Page:O Genteel Lady! (1926).pdf/92

 sively. And in native costume. People must say'—he mimicked slightly the clipped speech of fashionable English society—he is so picturesque, and have your read his utterly...devastating book?" That is why,' said Mr. Jones, 'I let people over here call me "Sir Anthony."...I couldn't do that in England, they'd know. But in New York, why, I say don't call me "Captain," call me "Jones." And they come back with "Sir." By the time I reach Pittsburgh I will be...a lord. And I'll not go to Cincinnati, whatever that may be, for less than...a belted earl.' He watched her attentively and when she smiled a very little, he smiled too. She made some remarks about 'Hearth and Home.' His eyes maintained their look of sadness and faithfulness. He let her finish and then asked her abruptly about herself. Did she like office life? Was she a Boston girl? Did she write stories and draw pictures herself? Lanice answered his gentle cross-questioning rather fully. Shy herself, the great traveller's hesitating speech made her feel poised and sophisticated. She was quite sure that she liked him and could not understand why even his friend, Professor Ripley, considered him a rascal.

'Did any one ever tell you,' he asked, 'that you are much the type of certain Persian princesses...often painted by artists of the Mughal School...a type...which, if it ever did exist, does not exist now?' He did not tell her how his restless eyes had roved over the earth looking for this evasive beauty in the flesh.