Nelson Smith should--oh, certainly it
seemed the wildest nonsense!
Still, there was his duty to the Van Vrecks. They must be considered
ahead of everything! So Ruthven Smith, nervous as a rabbit who has lost
its warren, travelled down to Devonshire on Saturday afternoon, invited
to stay at Valley House till Tuesday.
It was as Knight had said: the dull, deaf man was as completely out of
the picture in that house party as an owl among peacocks; for he was an
inarticulate person and could not talk interestingly even on his own
subject, jewels. His idea of conversation with women was a discussion of
the weather, contrasting that of England with that of America, or perhaps
touching upon politics. He was afraid of questions about jewels lest he
should allow himself to be pumped, and the information he might
inadvertently give away be somehow "used."
But he was by birth and education a gentleman; and his relationship to
Archdeacon Smith, whom everybody liked, was a passport to people's
kindness.
Duchesses and countesses were of no particular interest to Ruthven Smith,
but their adornments were fascinating.
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