"They bore me to
death. There's that solemn-faced friend of yours, Mr. Ashe--his name
ought to be Ashes!--he actually lectured me on my worldliness! _My_
worldliness, if you please, and I working myself to a shadow for the
election of Father Frontford!"
"He has imagination, you see," Maurice suggested, smiling.
"Now you are sneering, Mr. Wynne. I shall talk to the man on the other
side."
She was good as her word, and left Maurice to devote himself to the
lady on his right. He had the American adaptability, and a couple of
months had sufficed to make him reasonably at ease at a dinner. The
continuous delight he felt in his freedom, moreover, inspired him with
an inclination to be frank and communicative, so that if he did not
talk like the conventional man of the world, he managed not to sit
silent. His neighbor to-night was Mrs. Thayer Kent, and he chatted
easily with her about the West, where for a couple of years she had
been living on a ranch. Something in Mrs. Kent's talk reminded him of
Berenice, and he sighed inwardly that the latter's mourning prevented
her from going out. As if the thought had been spoken aloud, Mrs.
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