Page:The Novels and Tales of Henry James, Volume 2 (New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1907).djvu/346

THE AMERICAN "Ah, what a horror! I won't be taken in that way, especially as a 'thing,'" cried his interlocutress. "Mr. Newman's much better; he knows how to choose. Oh, he chooses as if he were threading a needle. He prefers the Comtesse to any rival attraction, however brilliant."

"Well, you can't help my being her cousin," said Lord Deepmere to Newman with candid hilarity.

"Oh no, I can't help that," Newman laughed back. "Neither can she!"

"And you can't help my dancing with her," said Lord Deepmere with sturdy simplicity.

"I could prevent that only by dancing with her myself," Newman returned. "But unfortunately I don't know how to dance."

"Oh, you may dance without knowing how; may you not, milord?" Madame Urbain asked. But to this Lord Deepmere replied that a fellow ought to know how to dance if he did n't want to make an ass of himself; and at this same moment the Marquis joined the group, slow-stepping and with his hands behind him.

"This is a very splendid entertainment," Newman cheerfully observed. "The old house looks very pleasant and bright."

"If you're pleased we're content." And the Marquis lifted his shoulders and bent them forward.

"Oh, I suspect every one's pleased," said Newman. "How can they help being pleased when the first thing they see as they come in is your sister standing there as beautiful as an angel of light and of charity?" 316