Page:Carroll - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded.djvu/186

148 "Do not all pronouns require antecedent nouns?" the Earl gently enquired.

"Pardon me," said the pompous man, with lofty condescension. "I had overlooked the noun. The ladies. We regret their absence. Yet we console ourselves. Thought is free. With them, we are limited to trivial topicsArt, Literature, Politics, and so forth. One can bear to discuss such paltry matters with a lady. But no man, in his senses" (he looked sternly round the table, as if defying contradiction) "ever yet discussed WINE with a lady! "He sipped his glass of port, leaned back in his chair, and slowly raised it up to his eye, so as to look through it at the lamp. "The vintage, my Lord?" he enquired, glancing at his host.

The Earl named the date.

"So I had supposed. But one likes to be certain. The tint is, perhaps, slightly pale. But the body is unquestionable. And as for the bouquet"

Ah, that magic Bouquet! How vividly that single word recalled the scene! The little beggar-boy turning his somersault in