Mrs. Verulam paid but little heed to the Duchess's physical indications of mental excitement. To-night she was engrossed with the desire to show James Bush, her hero, off to this world ignorant of what a real man can be. So far, Mr. Bush had borne himself bravely and naturally on the whole, the telescope episode alone excepted. His treatment of Ascot had been specially fine and noble. It is not every man, indeed, who has the courage to forsake the gaieties of a box close to the winning-post, the glories of the lawn, for the retired tent of the two-faced lady and the painted charms of the roundabout. It is not every man who has the intrepidity to give the ring the cold shoulder, and the beautiful simplicity to return to a palace at eventide, laden, like the spies of old, with the ripe fruits of Mother Earth—the cocoanuts of a Land of Promise. Already James Bush had betrayed the grandeur of his nature, but Mrs. Verulam was anxious to display every side of this character, so multifarious in beauty. And accordingly, that night after dinner, when the men came into the hall, she began to address herself rather pointedly to her hero, while Mr. Rodney sat writhing with jealousy in the immediate neighbourhood.
"Duchess," she said, "Mr. Bush, you must know, is full of maxims."
"Dear me! Is he related to a copy-book?" replied her Grace lethargically.
"Oh no! Not maxims of that kind. His are founded upon observation of life and knowledge of the world—that is to say, of the beautiful earth. Aren't they, Mr. Bush?"
"There's nought like pea-poddin'," replied that gentleman judicially.
Attired in a dress suit of strikingly original conception and cut, some sizes too small for his large frame, but well adapted to emphasise its enormous bulk, he was spread out upon a huge settee in an attitude of brilliant abandonment. The Duke was beside him, and Lady Drake close by. Mrs. Verulam saw that everybody, reduced to a readiness for comtemplative silence by much dinner, was listening with apparent attention. A bright resolve came to her. She would induce James Bush to show fully his true grand self, to illuminate them all with the light that flamed from a great soul.
"Yes?" she said encouragingly. "Yes?"
Thus adjured, Mr. Bush added, after a moment of deep thought: