“I beg your ladyship’s pardon.”
“How well you read!” said Margot. “Pray go on, you delightful person!”
Fishpingle went on: “The question of in-and-in breeding, where the parent stock on both sides is vigorous and healthy, can only be answered by experiment. As a successful breeder of cattle, horses, and hounds, I am strongly in favour of it. If History is to be believed, the Pharaohs of the earlier dynasties, all of them pre-eminent for strength of mind and body, married their own sisters.”
Lady Pomfret interrupted quietly:
“I think that will do, Ben.”
“Very good, my lady.”
Lionel, watching his sire’s expression, confident that the clouds were rolling away, said, with a laugh:
“Father, you’re down and out.”
“I never wrote it,” said the Squire, emphatically.
“Then who did? You signed it.”