"Oh, yes!" said Paul.

"You are beautiful, you know, Paul," she went on. "So tall and straight like you English, with curly hair of gold. Your mother must have loved you as a baby."

"I suppose she did," said Paul.

"She is well? Your mother, the stately lady?"

"Very well—do you know her?" he asked, surprised.

"Long ago I have seen her, and I knew you at once, so like you are—and to your uncles, especially the Lord Hubert."

"Uncle Hubert is a rotter!"

"A—rotter?" inquired the lady. "And what is that?" And she smiled a divine smile.

Paul felt ashamed. "Oh! well, it is a rotter, you know—that is—like Uncle Hubert, I mean."

She laughed again. "You do not explain well, but I understand you. And so you only resemble the Uncle Hubert on the outside—that is good."