"Yes, Tommy?"
"Well--I just say all that, dear old thing, so you won't think me sidey,
you know."
"I don't, Tommy. In fact, I have sometimes observed in you symptoms of
almost radical----"
"Don't laugh, Brigit," he broke in with a quaint wave of his hand. "What
I mean to say is simply this. I am, although so young, and not very
big--the Head of the Family."
This magnificent declaration was so unlike his usual style of
conversation that his sister with difficulty refrained from laughing.
"Well, Tommy--yes, there would be no use in my denying that you, not I,
are the Earl of Kingsmead. But--your manner is somewhat solemn; surely
you are not thinking of marrying?"
The earl's mouth broadened spasmodically, and his eyes gleamed with
amusement.
"I say, Bick, if you laugh at me, how on earth am I ever to get it
said?"
"All right. Only take some jam and don't terrify me with magnificence.
This is the first time to my knowledge that an earl has ever shed the
effulgence of his presence in these humble walls----"
Tommy's grandeur gave up the ghost, and with a yell of delight he dived
deep into one of the jars and heaped his plate with suspiciously crimson
cherry jam.
Pages:
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233