Yes,said Lord Luxellian,we were driving by a furriers window this afternoon,and the sight filled us all with such a sense of suffocation that we were glad to get away.Ha-ha!He turned to Elfride.Miss Swancourt,I have hardly seen or spoken to you since your literary feat was made public.I had no idea a chiel was taking notes down at quiet Endelstow,or I should certainly have put myself and friends upon our best behaviour.Swancourt,why didnt you give me a hint!
Elfride fluttered,blushed,laughed,said it was nothing to speak of,&c.&c.
Well,I think you were rather unfairly treated by the PRESENT,I certainly do.Writing a heavy review like that upon an elegant trifle like the COURT OF KELLYON CASTLE was absurd.
What?said Elfride,opening her eyes.Was I reviewed in the PRESENT?
Oh yes;didnt you see it?Why,it was four or five months ago!
No,I never saw it.How sorry I am!What a shame of my publishers!They promised to send me every notice that appeared.
Ah,then,I am almost afraid I have been giving you disagreeable information,intentionally withheld out of courtesy.Depend upon it they thought no good would come of sending it,and so would not pain you unnecessarily.
Oh no;I am indeed glad you have told me,Lord Luxellian.It is quite a mistaken kindness on their part.Is the review so much against me?she inquired tremulously.
No,no;not that exactly--though I almost forget its exact purport now.It was merely--merely sharp,you know--ungenerous,I might say.But really my memory does not enable me to speak decidedly.
Well drive to the PRESENT office,and get one directly;shall we,papa?
If you are so anxious,dear,we will,or send.But to-morrow will do.
And do oblige me in a little matter now,Elfride,said Lord Luxellian warmly,and looking as if he were sorry he had brought news that disturbed her.I am in reality sent here as a special messenger by my little Polly and Katie to ask you to come into our carriage with them for a short time.I am just going to walk across into Piccadilly,and my wife is left alone with them.I am afraid they are rather spoilt children;but I have half promised them you shall come.
The steps were let down,and Elfride was transferred--to the intense delight of the little girls,and to the mild interest of loungers with red skins and long necks,who cursorily eyed the performance with their walking-sticks to their lips,occasionally laughing from far down their throats and with their eyes,their mouths not being concerned in the operation at all.Lord Luxellian then told the coachman to drive on,lifted his hat,smiled a smile that missed its mark and alighted on a total stranger,who bowed in bewilderment.Lord Luxellian looked long at Elfride.
The look was a manly,open,and genuine look of admiration;a momentary tribute of a kind which any honest Englishman might have paid to fairness without being ashamed of the feeling,or permitting it to encroach in the slightest degree upon his emotional obligations as a husband and head of a family.Then Lord Luxellian turned away,and walked musingly to the upper end of the promenade.