Page:Marsh--The seen and the unseen.djvu/330

306 "Have a liquor—just a moistener? Gin and seltzer's not bad swill if you've got a knack of getting a little bit turned over, though I should think on a day like this anyone could look a basin in the face. What do you think?"

The young lady did not know what to think This duke was such an extraordinary duke. The great middle class is aware that there are members of the British aristocracy who are deficient in brains; manners, morals, and even education. But, as a matter of fact, even in these democratic days individuals of that class seldom come into actual contact even with a baron, and when, by some wondrous accident, they stumble on a duke, they expect that duke to be a duke. If to all outward seeming he appears to be a cross between a billiard marker and a stable hand, they are apt to be surprised.

When they reached Boulogne, his Grace of Staines was so good as to offer the ladies the honour of his escort to their hotel. As, however, they were leaving the boat together someone stopped the peer.

"Hollo, Teddy! What are you doing here?"

The speaker was a gorgeously attired gentleman, who wore, as decorations, a single eyeglass and a pair of spotless "lavender kids." He was accompanied by a little lady, who was remarkable for an enormous quantity of golden hair, and a pair of large blue eyes which would have been filled with the light of innocence if their effect had not been marred by a superabundance of "complexion." His Grace of Staines surveyed this pair with a glance which was not a glance of affection.

"So it's you, is it? I ain't been long in finding you."