upon which the hypercritics of mature age could set a finger.  Her teeth were excellent both in form and colour, but were seen seldom.  Who does not know that look of ubiquitous ivory produced by teeth which are too perfect in a face which is otherwise poor?  Her nose at the base spread a little,—­so that it was not purely Grecian.  But who has ever seen a nose to be eloquent and expressive, which did not spread?  It was, I think, the vitality of her countenance,—­the way in which she could speak with every feature, the command which she had of pathos, of humour, of sympathy, of satire, the assurance which she gave by every glance of her eye, every elevation of her brow, every curl of her lip, that she was alive to all that was going on,—­it was all this rather than those feminine charms which can be catalogued and labelled that made all acknowledge that she was beautiful.

‘Lord Silverbridge,’ said Mr Boncassen, speaking a little through his nose, ’I am proud to make your acquaintance, sir.  Your father is a man for whom we in our country have a great respect.  I think, sir, you must be proud of such a father.’

‘Oh yes,—­no doubt,’ said Silverbridge awkwardly.  Then Mr Boncassen continued his discourse with the gentlemen around him.  Upon this our friend turned to the young lady.  ’Have you been long in England, Miss Boncassen?’

‘Long enough to have heard about you and your father,’ she said, speaking with no slightest twang.

‘I hope you have not heard evil of me.’

‘Well!’

‘I’m sure you can’t have heard much good.’

‘I know you didn’t win the Derby.’

‘You’ve been long enough to hear that.’

’Do you suppose we don’t interest ourselves about the Derby in New York?  Why, when we arrived at Queenstown I was leaning over the taffrail so that I might ask the first man on board the tender whether the Prime Minister had won.’

‘And he said he hadn’t.’

’I can’t conceive why you of all men should call your horse by such a name.  If my father had been President of the United States, I don’t think I’d call a horse President.’

‘I didn’t name the horse.’

’I’d have changed it.  But is it not very impudent of me to be finding fault with you the first time I have ever met you?  Shall you have a horse at Ascot?’

’There will be something going, I suppose.  Nothing that I care about.’  Lord Silverbridge had made up his mind that he would not go to the races with Tifto before the Leger.  The Leger would be an affair of such moment as to demand his presence.  After that should come the complete rupture between him and Tifto.

Then there was movement among the elders, and Lord Silverbridge soon found himself walking alone with Miss Boncassen.  It seemed to her to be quite natural to do so, and there certainly was no reason why he should decline anything so pleasant.  It was thus that he had intended to walk with Mabel Grex;—­only as yet he had not found her.  ‘Oh, yes,’ said Miss Boncassen, when they had been together about twenty minutes; ’we shall be here all the summer, and the fall, and all the winter.  Indeed father means to read every book in the British Museum before he goes back.’