"Nonsense!"
"No, it's true; Madame Lemoine, at Paris, used to say, 'Il faut toujours dire la vérité en famille,' but to other people it didn't matter. I told her it was all wrong, but she never could see it my way, so I gave it up, and she was an old dear in spite of her fibs!"
"She didn't convert you to fibbing, Toney!"
"There you see, I can't alter, but that wasn't what I was going to say. Do you know that last night, dear Uncle Evas—who is really quite cheerful now—and didn't he enjoy his times at Rome with me and Crumpet? for you know that with a lot of trouble and a little bribery I think, he got a month off last year."
They both laughed heartily, and slowly walked their horses on together. If a stranger had seen them he would have paused to look at this picture of the man and the maid.
"Well, what did your uncle say?"
"Oh, it was funny. He wanted to give me good advice about my coming of age! He cleared his throat and said, 'My dear Antonia, to-morrow you will be——' Then I laughed so much that he couldn't help joining in too, so I just gave him a hug till he begged for mercy."
Her companion also bowed his head over his horse's mane in happy laughter.
"I see, Toney, it's true you are incorrigible!"
"Yes, but really I don't believe you could have been so cruel as to let Uncle Dove give you a homily, now, could you? It would only have given him a sore throat for a month."