“Oh, pretty well,” he answered lightly. “The General is a little heavy, but his wife has vivacity enough to counterbalance him, and I should say the brother is a fine fellow.”
Margaret’s eyes opened wide with astonishment. Forgetting all her good resolutions, now that she and her cousin had so decidedly shifted positions, she said excitedly:
“Why, Alan, I supposed you thought him simply intolerable.”
Her cousin, in his turn, looked surprised.
“You know him better than I,” he said, “and it may be that that is his real character; but I met him at the club the other night and was rather struck with him. It may be all surface, however. He is a good-looking fellow—and has very good manners.”
“Good manners! Oh, Alan! His conduct, the first time you met him, was really terrible; it filled me with shame for him.”
“Oh yes; I remember that very well,” said Decourcy, quietly; “but I rather fancied, from certain signs, that that was mostly due to his being at odds with you, in some way. Yes,” he went on, looking faintly amused at the reminiscence, “he evidently intended to annihilate me, but when he saw that he had better not think of it, I must say he gave up with a good grace, and since then he has done everything in his power to manifest an intention to be civil. In this condition of affairs, I find him a very likeable, intelligent fellow.”
“And you bear him no grudge for the manner in which he treated you?”
“My dear Daisy! what’s the use of bearing grudges? Life is much too short. And besides, a great many people are like that.”
“What sort of people? Vulgar people and ignorant people, I suppose!”