well withhold my consent. When will you begin?"

"Now."

"And how?"

"How should I begin," said he, a smile on his face, and the light
dancing in his eyes, "except by making myself the first convert?"

Margaret was used enough to pretty speeches, in earnest and in jest, but
she thought she had never heard any one turn them more readily than the
yellow-bearded student.

"And Mr. Barker," she asked, "will you convert him?"

"Can you look at him at this moment, Countess, and say you really think
he needs it?"

She glanced at the pair on the bench, and laughed again, in the air,
for it was apparent that Mr. Barker had made a complete conquest of Miss
Skeat. He had led the conversation about tribes to the ancient practices
of the North American Indians, and was detailing their customs with
marvellous fluency. A scientific hearer might have detected some
startling inaccuracies, but Miss Skeat listened with rapt attention.
Who, indeed, should know more about Indians than a born American who had
travelled in the West?

The Countess turned the conversation to other subjects, and talked
intelligently about books. She evidently read a great deal, or rather
she allowed Miss Skeat to read to her, and her memory was good. Claudius