'
'Very well,' said Claude, 'I'll do my best. Good-night.'
'Good-night,' said the Marquis. 'You have both done wonders. Still,
I wish it was to come over again.'
'Few people would say so,' said Lily, as they drove off.
'Few would say so if they thought so,' said Claude. 'I have been
quite admiring the way Rotherwood has gone on--enjoying the fun as if
he was nobody--just as Reginald might, making other people happy, and
making no secret of his satisfaction in it all.'
'Very free from affectation and nonsense,' said Lily, 'as William
said of him last Christmas. You were in a fine fright about his
speech, Claude.'
'More than I ought to have been. I should have known that he is too
simple-minded and straightforward to say anything but just what he
ought. What a nice person that Miss Aylmer is.'
'Is not she, Claude? I was very glad you had her for a neighbour.
Happy the children who have her for a governess. How sensible and
gentle she seems. The Westons--But oh! Claude, tell me one thing,
did you hear--'
'Well, what?'
'I am ashamed to say. That preposterous report about papa. Why,
Rotherwood himself seems to believe it, and Mr.
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