ady
Lawless resigned themselves to the attentions of Mr. Pride; and for
once Lady Lawless did not check Mrs. Thorne's irony. It was almost a
satisfaction to see Mr. Pride's bewildered looks, and his inability
to know whether or not he should resent (whether it would be proper to
resent) this softly-showered satire.

Mr. Vandewaters and Gracia Raglan talked more freely than they had ever
done before.

"Do you really like England?" she said to him; then, waving her hand
lightly to the beeches and the clean-cropped grass through the window,
"I mean do you like our 'trim parterres,' our devotion to mere living,
pleasure, sport, squiring, and that sort of thing?"

He raised his head, glanced out, drew in a deep breath, thrust his hands
down in the pockets of his coat, and looking at her with respectful good
humour, said: "Like it? Yes, right down to the ground. Why shouldn't
I! It's the kind of place I should like to come to in my old days. You
needn't die in a hurry here. See?"

"Are you sure you would not be like the old sailors who must live where
they can scent the brine? You have been used to an active, adventurous,
hurried life. Do you think you could endure this humdrum of enjoyment?"

It would be hard to tell quite what was running in Gracia Raglan's mind,
and, for the moment, she herself hardly knew; but she had a sudden,
overmastering wish to make the man talk: to explore and, maybe, find
surprising--even trying--things. She was astonished that she enjoyed his
society so keenly. Even now, as she spoke, she remembered a day and a
night since his coming, when he was absent in London; also how the party
seemed to have lost its character and life, and how, when Mr. Pride
condescended, for a few moments, to decline from Lady Lawless upon
herself, she was even pleasant to him, making him talk about Mr.
Vandewaters, and relishing the enthusiastic loyalty of the supine young
man. She, like Lady Lawless, had learned to see behind the firm bold
exterior, not merely a notable energy, force, self-reliance, and
masterfulness, but a native courtesy, simplicity, and refinement
which surprised her. Of all the men she knew not a half-dozen had an
appreciation of nature or of art. They affected art, and some of them
went to the Academy or the private views in Bond Street; but they had
little feeling for the business. They did it in a well-bred way, with
taste, but not with warmth.

Mr. Vandewaters now startled her by quoting