“Mr. Shelmerdine,” said the old lady, “I make you my compliments on your good sense.”
It must certainly be said for the heir to the barony that he made quite a favorable impression upon Grandmamma. Rather a plume in the bonnet of the parfit, gentil knight moreover; because as Granny had been kissed by Mr. Dickens, used regularly to call upon Mr. Thackeray in Young Street, had dined and supped with Mr. Gladstone, and had a very poor opinion, indeed, of Mr. Disraeli, she must be reckoned rather a judge.
CHAPTER IX
A LITTLE LUNCH AT DIEUDONNÉ’S
Sore were the ravages of the ancient malady. It made it worse for the sufferer that he had never had it before.
He was twenty-eight, a very healthy and normal citizen, “a little slow in the uptake,” to be sure, but with private means already, and the heir to the paternal greatness. He should, of course, like other paladins, have tried to keep out of mischief by serving his king and country.
It was a mistake to have left the Second, said his admirable parents. He wanted a wife, said all the world. It was really necessary that a young man of his age should provide himself with this most indispensable accessory.
In his torpid way he rather agreed. But he got no forrarder, although it was perfectly clear that the indispensable accessory was his for the asking.
To be sure, he had never exactly hit it off with Adela. Self-willed and overbearing young women, doubtless, had their reason to be; but he was much too shrewd a young chap to crave to be tied up for life with one of them. Still, if he wasn’t careful the fetters might easily be riveted. Things had rather shaped that way for twelve months past.
All the same, it behooved him to be wary. The fruit was ripe. A single shake of the branch and it might fall from the tree.
Cinderella had shaken the tree pretty severely. Simple, kind and cheerful she was just the sort of girl you could get on with. Straight as a die, overflowing with life and sympathy, she had the noble faculty of being genuinely interested in all the world and his wife.