was planning it too, and my plan--' He is certainly coming closer.

COSMO, hurriedly, 'Yes, I know. Now that's over--our first meeting, I
mean; now we settle down.'

COLONEL. 'Not yet. Come here, my boy.'

He draws him to a chair; he evidently thinks that a father and his boy
of thirteen can sit in the same chair. Cosmo is burning to be nice to
him, but of course there are limits.

COSMO. 'Look here, father. Of course, you see--ways change. I daresay
they did it, when you were a boy, but it isn't done now.'

COLONEL. 'What isn't done, you dear fellow?'

COSMO. 'Oh--well!--and then taking both hands and saying 'Dear
fellow'--'It's gone out, you know.'

The Colonel chuckles and forbears. 'I'm uncommon glad you told me,
Cosmo. Not having been a father for so long, you see, I'm rather raw
at it.'

COSMO, relieved, 'That's all right. You'll soon get the hang of it.'

COLONEL. 'If you could give me any other tips?'

COSMO, becoming confidential, 'Well, there's my beastly name. Of
course you didn't mean any harm when you christened me Cosmo, but--I
always sign myself "C. Grey"--to make the fellows think I'm Charles.'