A Damsel in Distress

It seemed to George that such an entanglement could hardly be said

to have begun, but he did not say so.

Lord Marshmoreton resumed his remarks. Lady Caroline had sent him

to the cottage to be stern, and his firm resolve to be stern lent

his style of speech something of the measured solemnity and careful

phrasing of his occasional orations in the House of Lords.

"I have no wish to be unduly hard upon the indiscretions of Youth.

Youth is the period of Romance, when the heart rules the head. I

myself was once a young man."

"Well, you're practically that now," said George.

"Eh?" cried Lord Marshmoreton, forgetting the thread of his

discourse in the shock of pleased surprise.

"You don't look a day over forty."

"Oh, come, come, my boy! . . . I mean, Mr. Bevan."

"You don't honestly."

"I'm forty-eight."

"The Prime of Life."

"And you don't think I look it?"

"You certainly don't."

"Well, well, well! By the way, have you tobacco, my boy. I came

without my pouch."

"Just at your elbow. Pretty good stuff. I bought it in the village."

"The same I smoke myself."

"Quite a coincidence."

"Distinctly."

"Match?"

"Thank you, I have one."

George filled his own pipe. The thing was becoming a love-feast.

"What was I saying?" said Lord Marshmoreton, blowing a comfortable

cloud. "Oh, yes." He removed his pipe from his mouth with a touch of

embarrassment. "Yes, yes, to be sure!"

There was an awkward silence.

"You must see for yourself," said the earl, "how impossible it is."

George shook his head.

"I may be slow at grasping a thing, but I'm bound to say I can't

see that."

Lord Marshmoreton recalled some of the things his sister had told

him to say. "For one thing, what do we know of you? You are a

perfect stranger."

"Well, we're all getting acquainted pretty quick, don't you think?

I met your son in Piccadilly and had a long talk with him, and now

you are paying me a neighbourly visit."

"This was not intended to be a social call."

"But it has become one."

"And then, that is one point I wish to make, you know. Ours is an

old family, I would like to remind you that there were

Marshmoretons in Belpher before the War of the Roses."

"There were Bevans in Brooklyn before the B.R.T."

"I beg your pardon?"

"I was only pointing out that I can trace my ancestry a long way.

You have to trace things a long way in Brooklyn, if you want to

find them."

"I have never heard of Brooklyn."

"You've heard of New York?"