Page:The Private Life, Lord Beaupré, The Visits (New York, Harper & Brothers, 1893).djvu/211

Rh gone from town took me over to see some friends of theirs, who lived ten miles away in a place that was supposed to be fine. As it was a long drive we stayed to luncheon; and then, as there were gardens and other things that were more or less on show, we struggled along to tea, so as to get home just in time for dinner. There were a good many other people present, and before luncheon a very pretty girl came into the drawing-room, a real maiden in her flower, less than twenty, fresh and fair and charming, with the expression of some one I knew. I asked who she was, and was told she was Miss Chantry, so that in a moment I spoke to her, mentioning that I was an old friend of her mother's, and that I was coming to pay them a visit. She looked rather frightened and blank, was apparently unable to say that she had ever heard of me, and hinted at no pleasure in the idea that she was to hear of me again. But this didn't prevent my perceiving that she was lovely, for I was wise enough even then not to think it necessary to measure people by the impression that one makes on them. I saw