"Yes, I know; but that does not change the old aristocrat's manner of regarding the affair. He contends that a gentleman born is always a gentleman, and a peasant always a peasant, notwithstanding the vicissitudes of fortune, that may enrich the one and impoverish the other."
"Or rather, he contended so—it belongs to the past tense. Look at him now—see what deference he pays to Mr. Howard's opinions."
"The mere politeness of the host. Take nothing for granted from that."
"Nay, but Frank Howard is a gentleman of whom any father might be proud as a son-in-law."
"Very likely. But Mr. Legare is not 'any' father. However, what I wish to know is, whether Frank Howard did not use you to procure the 'bid' that brought him hither?"
"No, indeed!"
"How came it, then, you artful boy, that you took just the course, and the only course, by which you could procure him an invitation?"
"I don't understand you."
"You innocent! How came it, then, that you wrote to Mr. Legare, you would be very happy to obey his summons, and spend the holidays at Wolfbrake, but that you had a friend with you whom you could not leave, and whom you took care not to mention by name?"
"Oh, because I never gave the matter a moment's thought. When I got Mr. Legare's letter, I just sat down and answered it right off, and mentioned my friend merely as my friend. If I had, as you seem to think, been fishing for an invitation for him also, I certainly should have mentioned him by name and title as the Hon. Frank Howard, of Massachusetts, etc., etc., etc."