"You evidently know her well?"
"I do, but we have always met in Europe. I have never visited her in New England, where she has a charming house, and entertains a great deal."
"Has she been long a widow—for I conclude she is one?"
"Her husband died several years since, and she has never yet made up her mind to change her state. She had one desperate love-affair long ago. Whether it is that has prevented her marrying again, or whether her experience of matrimony was not such as to make her desire to repeat the experiment"—his smile was not pleasant as he said that—"I do not know. I only know she is the best friend in the world, and that women are jealous of her because she attracts all sorts and conditions of men. The lion and the lamb lie down together on her hearth-rug. But she loves the lion better than the lamb."
"Mordaunt is not a lion—neither is he quite a lamb," laughed his sister.
"Oh! but he will be made a lion of in the States. The son of so eminent a man as your father—whose name was so prominent in our country during the Alabama dispute, will be interviewed, and banqueted, and have receptions given for him, all the time. Most of this you will have to endure also. I hope you won't hate it as much as I should."
"I can't believe that you are right, Mr. Ferrars; but if greatness is thrust upon me in this unexpected manner, I hope I shall be amused. I have no idea of expecting to be bored with anything. A sense of humor carries one through so much; and I delight in American humor."
"If you expect that every one is going to talk like Mark Twain, you will be mistaken. You will find a good deal of unconscious humor occasionally in the sayings and doings of my countrymen. I hope it will carry you through those dreary hours, the ladies' luncheons, and all those terrible afflictions!"
"Must they be afflictions because you are not admitted to them?" laughed Miss Ballinger.
"Not necessarily. But the tall talk of superior women is bad enough when it has to bend to the level of our comprehension. What it must be when they are alone—"