“No,” said the Major, “I have not. Have you?”
“Not upon British hunters,” said Mr. Carteret.
“But do you think that they could?” inquired Lord Frederic.
“It would be foolish of me to express an opinion,” replied Mr. Carteret, “because, in the first place, I have never seen them ride British hunters over fences—”
“They would come off at the first obstacle,” observed the Major, more in sorrow than in anger.
“And in the second place,” continued Mr. Carteret, “I am perhaps naturally prejudiced in behalf of my fellow countrymen.”
Mrs. Ascott-Smith looked at him anxiously. His sister had married a British peer. “But you Americans are quite distinct from the red Indians,” she said. “We quite understand that nowadays. To be sure, my dear Aunt—” She stopped.
“Rather!” said Mrs. Archie Brawle. “You don’t even intermarry with them, do you?”
“That is a matter of personal taste,” said Mr. Carteret. “There is no law against it.”
“But nobody that one knows—” began Mrs. Ascott-Smith.