Page:The Aspern Papers.djvu/222

 about him, something stippled and retouched, an air of having been more artfully fashioned, in conformity with traditions and models. He wore old clothes which looked new, while his transatlantic brother wore new clothes which looked old. He thought he had never heard the American tone so marked as on the lips of Mr. Macarthy Grice, who on his side found in the accent of his sister's friend a strange, exaggerated, even affected variation of the tongue in which he supposed himself to have been brought up. In general he was much irritated by the tricks which the English played with the English language, deprecating especially their use of familiar slang.

'Miss Grice tells me that you have just crossed the ditch, but I'm afraid you are not going to stay with us long,' Sir Rufus remarked, with much pleasantness.

'Well, no, I shall return as soon as I have transacted my business,' Macarthy replied. 'That's all I came for.'

'You don't do us justice; you ought to follow the example of your mother and sister and take a look round,' Sir Rufus went on, with another laugh. He was evidently of a mirthful nature.

'Oh, I have been here before; I've seen the principal curiosities.'

'He has seen everything thoroughly,' Mrs. Grice murmured over her crotchet.

'Ah, I daresay you have seen much more than we poor natives. And your own country is so interesting. I have an immense desire to see that.'

'Well, it certainly repays observation,' said Macarthy Grice.

'You wouldn't like it at all; you would find