"I hope you will not, Lord Vivianne. I should always fancy papa was talking to me."
"Did you think I was mad that day in the chestnut grove?"
Lady Doris laughed.
"My experience of the world is not very large at present," she said. "Whenever I see or hear anything unusual, I think it is the fashion of the times."
"Ah, Lady Studleigh, I wish I could persuade you to be serious—you are always laughing at me."
"Tendency to laughter is hereditary with me," she said. "I cannot help it. I am afraid that I have no talent for sentiment. The only matter I find for surprise is why you should have selected such a very unsuitable character as myself for your confidante. I cannot say what may be in store for me, but I do not remember that any love affair ever possessed the least interest for me yet."
"You should have a love affair, as you call it, Lady Studleigh, in Italy, where the air is poetry, and the wind music."
"Papa," said Lady Studleigh to the earl, who was just passing her chair, "do you hear Lord Vivianne's advice?"
"No, my dear; but I do not doubt that it is good."
"He tells me to go to Italy to learn a lesson in love. That is a sorry compliment to England and the English, is it not?"