Page:The Tsar's Window.djvu/127

 shaved oftener than once a week. What overcoats he wore! and oh, how ashamed we used to be of him!"

Tom and I laughed in concert, and George joined us. Mr. Thurber's face wore a polite smile.

"But if you slighted Uncle John," I went on, watching the Englishman intently, but telling my story in a half-laughing way, "he talked about your being 'stuck up,' and 'feeling big,' and 'he guessed he was as good as any one!' What a contrast," I sighed, "between him and the Grand Duchess Vladimir! So little pretension in her, so much in him! Uncle John would feel sure that he was as important a personage as the Emperor, if he were to come here. I would like to know what they would all think of him."

"Let us hope," said George, "that the old gentleman will not take it into his head to visit Russia."

I shuddered. "What a mercy that he is so stingy, else he would undoubtedly come."

"Has he much money?"

"I don't know. Tom thinks so, because he never spends any."

Mr. Thurber looked slightly bored.

"There!" I said mentally, "the story of Uncle John has disgusted him, and I am spared the disagreeable task of refusing him. Undeceiving him as to my being an heiress perhaps had some weight, but Uncle John has certainly turned the scales."

While I was reflecting on this, and finishing my lunch in silence, scarcely hearing what the others said, I found George watching me intently. Could it have been my