high-spirited Dynevor,--'I must confess that Louis is no sportsman!
He was eager about it once, till he had become a good shot; and then
it lost all zest for him, and he prefers his own vagaries. He never
takes a gun unless James drives him out; and, oddly enough, his
father is quite vexed at his indifference, as if it were not manly.
If his father would only understand him!'

The specimen of that day had almost made Mrs. Ponsonby fear that
there was nothing to understand, and that only dear Aunt Kitty's
affection could perceive anything but amiable folly, and it was not
much better when the young gentleman reappeared, looking very
debonnaire, and, sitting down beside Mrs. Frost, said, in a voice
meant for her alone--'Henry IV; Part II., the insult to Chief Justice
Gascoigne. My father will presently enter and address you:


'O that it could be proved
That some night-tripping fairy had exchanged
In cradle-cloths our children as they lay,--
Call'd yours Fitzjocelyn--mine, Frost Dynevor!'


'For shame, Louis! I shall have to call you Fitzjocelyn! You are
behaving very ill.'

'Insulting the English constitution in the person of seven squires.'

'Don't, my dear! It was the very thing to vex your father that you
should have put yourself in such a position.'