'I think I always want him.'

'Ah!' said I, and would have pondered this statement at some length
in silence, but that she plainly did not wish me to do so.

'We might perfectly well have sent his pony home with one of our own
servants--he would have been delighted to walk down.'

'He wasn't in proper kit,' I remonstrated.

'Oh, I wish you would speak to him about that. Make him get some
tennis-flannels and riding-things.'

'Do you propose to get him asked to places?' I inquired.

She gave me a charmingly unguarded smile. 'I propose to induce you
to do so. I have done what I could. He has dined with us several
times, and met a few people who would, I thought, be kind to him.'

'Oh, well,' I said, 'I have had him at the Club too, with old Lamb
and Colonel Hamilton. He made us all miserable with his shyness.
Don't ask me to do it again, please.'

'I've sent him to call on certain people,' Dora continued, 'and I've
shown his pictures to everybody, and praised him and talked about
him, but I can't go on doing that indefinitely, can I?'

'No,' I said; 'people might misunderstand.'