Ferrars,
perceiving that it was no sport to him.
'This is the way my mischievous uncle has served us all in turn,'
said Lucy, advancing; 'we have all been shown up, and there was mamma
a monkey, and I an argus pheasant--'
'Ah! I see,' said the gentleman. 'These are your rural pastimes of
the season. Yes, I can take my share in good part, just as I have
pelted the masks at the Carnival.'
'Even a giraffe can bend his head and do at Rome as Rome does,'
murmured Ulick. But instead of heeding the audacious Irishman,
Algernon patronized the showman by thanks for his exhibition; and
then sitting down by Lucy, asked if he had ever told her of the
tricks that he and il Principe Odorico Moretti used to play at Ems on
the old Baron Sprawlowsky, while Mr. Ferrars, leaning over his
sister's chair, said aside, 'I beg your pardon, Albinia; I should not
have yielded to Willie. This "rural pastime" is only in season en
famille.'
'Never mind, it served him right.'
'It may have served him right, but had we the right to serve him?'
'I forgive your prudence for the sake of your folly. Could not
Oxford have lessened his pomposity?'
'It comes too late,' said Maurice.
Before Ulick went to bed his pen and ink had depicted the entire
caravan. The love-birds were pressed up together, with the
individual features of the two young ladies, and completely little
parrots; the snipe ran along the bars of the cage, looking exactly
like all the O'Mores.
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