“The cow?”
“No, the rib.”
The lady led the party in a procession which she dramatically headed through the lower rooms of the principal building. She showed them the superb old baronial hall; the drawing-rooms, magnificent with tapestries and inlaid furniture; the pictures by Vandyke. Then in an awesome manner she suddenly stopped, and said in a low confidential voice,—
“The Countess herself is above stairs.”
“How many feet high is the Countess? I’d give a quarter—”
Tommy’s intended remark was checked by Master Lewis.
The lady requested a fee on showing the party back to the lodge, and dismissed Master Lewis with a stiff bow that indicated a want of confidence in American respect for the great and mighty Guy and his successors.