"But he is English."
"But he is also American. He owns mines and prairies, and he emigrates semi-annually. They all do now. You know rats leave a sinking ship, and they are going to have a commune in England."
"Oh, Mr. Barker, how can you!" exclaimed Miss Skeat.
"But I am only joking, of course," said he, and pacified her. So they parted.
Mr. Barker and Claudius stood on the front door-step, and the former lit a cigar while the carriage drove up.
"Doctor," said he, "I consider you the most remarkable man of my acquaintance."
"Why?" asked Claudius as he got into the carriage.
"Well, for several reasons. Chiefly because though you have lived in a 'three pair back' for years, and never seen so much as a woman's ear, by your own account, you nevertheless act as if you had never been out of a drawing-room during your life. You are the least shy man I ever saw."
"Shy?" exclaimed Claudius, "what a funny idea! Why should I be shy?"
"No reason in the world, I suppose, after all. But it is very odd." And Mr. Barker ruminated, rolling his cigar in his mouth. "Besides," he added, after a long pause, "you have made a conquest."