It was evident that the old Judge was eager for discussion on anything. He had tried in vain to provoke each of his guests, and he was almost irritable at the deference accorded him.
“Do I see you pass the decanter, Colonel Sewell? Are you not drinking any wine?”
“No, my Lord.”
“Perhaps you like coffee? Don't you think, Lucy, you could give him some?”
“Yes, sir. I shall be delighted.”
“Very well. Haire and I will finish this magnum, and then join you in the drawing-room.”
Lucy took Sewells arm and retired. They were scarcely well out of the room when Sewell halted suddenly, and in a voice so artificial that, if Lucy had been given to suspectfulness, she would have detected at once, said, “Is the Judge always as pleasant and as witty as we saw him today?”
“To-day he was very far from himself; something, I 'm sure, must have irritated him, for he was not in his usual mood.”
“I confess I thought him charming; so full of neat reply, pleasant apropos, and happy quotation.”
“He very often has days of all that you have just said, and I am delighted with them.”