Only Sir John and his nephew noticed that at this point the reader flushed a little, and crumpled the paper slightly in her hand. There was a momentary pause, as though everybody expected more to come, but Lilian was silent, and her father exclaimed:
"H'm! Translate, Lilian; why couldn't the mossoo say what he had to say in English?"
Sir John took the verses from her, and after an amused glance at them put them in his pocket.
"They're decent enough Alexandrines, Barkworth," he said with a chuckle. "Lilian's thinking of Tom's blushes, I suspect."
"Well then, translate, somebody. What's the fellow say?"
"Translate 'em in rhyme, a line each, sort of game," suggested Major Lister.
"A good idea!" exclaimed Sir John. "Place aux dames; you begin, Lilian; and it must be heroic measure, of course, to match the theme."
"How will this do?" asked Lilian after a moment or two.
"'O youthful hero, warrior brave and bold!'"
"Capital! and the right heroic strain. I go on: