“You are the most partial person!”
“Yes, I am; but I’ve always been able to see my children’s faults, much as I adore them. But I don’t feel a qualm about you. Your mind is so quick; and, thank Heaven, I paid such strict attention to your manners. They are simply perfect.”
“Think if you’d left me to grow up in a boarding-house! You may be sure I never forget my debts. I didn’t tell you that Cecil is no longer a Radical. He’s a Conservative, straight into his marrow; his ancestors have never been anything else, and he’s outlived all his fads.”
“He’s painfully mature,” said Mrs. Montgomery, with a sigh. “Englishmen seem to remain boys a long time, and then to grow old all at once. I suppose it’s that dreadful Oxford. Our boys are little old men who get their youth somewhere in their twenties, and are not really grown again until after thirty. It’s very singular. Randolph, of course, has worked a good deal of his boyishness out of him, but he is always laughing and joking. And look at Tom and Ned—they are mere children beside Lord Maundrell. I was really mortified when they tried to talk to him last night, and I had always thought them bright.”
“So they are. But if men won’t cultivate their brains, what can they expect? Tom thinks of nothing but business—which he takes as a joke—dancing, and football, and Ned boasts that he has only read ten books in his life. Tom would only remain eight months at Harvard, and Ned wouldn’t go at all. Both have had every opportunity, and they are full of American quickness and wit; but they have a genuine scorn for intellect. I can see that they regard Cecil as a freak. Randolph respects brains, but even he is bored.”
“Yes, it’s true—it’s true. Will you tell Randolph? I haven’t the courage.”
“Yes; I’ll tell him to-night—we’re dining alone, aren’t we? Don’t worry about him. Men always get over things.”
CHAPTER XXIX
THAT evening, as they were walking up the hall from the dining-room to the verandah, Lee put her hand on Randolph’s arm and drew him into the parlour.
“I want to tell you something,” she said nervously. “You know I have always loved Cecil Maundrell. I am going to marry him.”