"An insolent reptile! he shall smart for it. I'll have him before the magistrate at Marlborough Street."
"Don't call me as a witness, then. It was your fault. You got into the fellow's way."
"I didn't get into his way."
"At any rate, you didn't get out of it, which amounts to the same thing. I ask if that is your usual mode of driving?"
"What if it is?"
"It is a careless one. The next time you offer me a seat, Stanley, I shall propose to take the reins."
"I thought I saw her carriage before us," explained Captain Stanley, in a more conciliatory tone, as he began to recover his good-humour. "It made me blind to everything else, Winchester."
"Who is 'her'?" demanded Lord Winchester, who had just returned from a prolonged sojourn on the Continent.
"The loveliest woman, Winchester. I can tell you you have a treat in store: you will say it when you get introduced to her. I couldn't exist," added the captain, twirling his moustache, "without a daily sight of that angel."
The viscount smiled. He knew, of old, Captain Stanley's propensity for going into heroics over "angels:" he did so himself upon occasion. "Mrs. Stanley to be?" asked he, indifferently, by way of saying something.