ng a different hat."

"Actin' under advice, ma'am."

"I don't know that it's an improvement." Her eyes rested on him in cool
scrutiny, and he flinched under it. "There's always a--a sort of
distinction about a top hat. Of course, it was very thoughtful of you
to change it for something more free-and-easy. But different styles
suit different persons, and--as I'm always telling Dinah--the secret of
dressing is to find out the style that suits you, and stick to it."

"Bein' free-an'-easy, ma'am, was the last thing in my mind," stammered
Captain Cai.

"There, didn't I guess? . . . Well, you shall wear your top hat next
time, and I'll take back my first impressions if I find 'em wrong."

"But, ma'am, the--the fact is--"

"Of course it was in the dusk," continued Mrs Bosenna; "but I certainly
thought it suited you. One meets with so little of the real
old-fashioned politeness among men in these days! Now "--she let her
voice trail off reflectively as her eyes wandered past Captain Cai and
rested on the tree-tops in the valley--"if I was asked to name my
_bo ideal_ of an English gentleman--and the foreigners can't come near
it, you needn't tell me--'twould be Sir Brampton Goldsworthy, Bart., of
Halberton Court, Devon."

"Ma'am?"

"That's close to Holsworthy, where I was brought up. 'Goldsworthy of
Holsworthy' he liked to be known as, dropping the 'Sir': and _he_ always
wore a top hat, rather flat in the brim. But he'd off with it to
anything in woman's shape. . . . And that's what women value.
Respect. . . . It isn't a man's _age_--" She broke off and half closed
her eyes in reverie. "And so particular, too, about his body-linen!
Always a high stock collar . . . and his cuffs!"

"Talkin' about cuffs, now--" Captain Cai dived a hand into a
hip-pocket and drew forth a circlet of white lawn, much flattened.
"I found this in the garden last night--by the rose-bushes."

"Thank you--yes, it is mine, of course. I missed it on the way home."
Mrs Bosenna reached out her hand for it. "You must have set me down for
a very careless person? But with all my responsibilities just now--"
She concluded the sentence with a sigh, and held open the gate, warning
him to beware of the wet paint. "You see, there is so much to be looked
after on a farm. One can never trust to servants--or at any rate not to
the men kind. Dinah is different; but even with Dinah--" Mrs Bosenna
let fall another, slightly fainter, sigh.

"Th