"Poor child!" said Ashe, slowly, putting down his cigarette and turning a thoughtful look on the carpet.
"Alice?" said Lord Grosville.
"No."
"Oh! you mean Kitty? Yes, I had forgotten her for the moment. Yes, poor child."
There was silence a moment, then Lord Grosville inquired:
"What do you think of her?"
"I?" said Ashe, with a laugh. "I don't know. She's obviously very pretty—"
"And a handful!" said Lord Grosville.
"Oh, quite plainly a handful," said Ashe, rather absently. Then the memory of Kitty's entry recurred to them both, and they laughed.
"Not much shyness left in that young woman—eh?" said the old man. "She tells my girls such stories of her French doings—my wife's had to stop it. She seems to have had all sorts of love-affairs already. And, of course, she'll have any number over here—sure to. Some unscrupulous fellow'll get hold of her, for naturally the right sort won't marry her. I don't know what we can do. Adelina offered to take her altogether. But that woman wouldn't hear of it. She wrote Lina rather a good letter—on her dignity—and that kind of thing. We gave her an opening, and, by Jove! she took it."