My
hair was sadly too long, but I was none so unwise as to make an
attempt on it myself. And, indeed, I thought it did not wholly
misbecome me as it was, being by nature curly. The clothes were
about as good as I expected. The waistcoat was of toilenet, a
pretty piece, the trousers of fine kerseymere, and the coat sat
extraordinarily well. Altogether, when I beheld this changeling in
the glass, I kissed my hand to him.
'My dear fellow,' said I, 'have you no scent?'
'Good God, no!' cried Ronald. 'What do you want with scent?'
'Capital thing on a campaign,' said I. 'But I can do without.'
I was now led, with the same precautions against noise, into the
little bow-windowed dining-room of the cottage. The shutters were
up, the lamp guiltily turned low; the beautiful Flora greeted me in
a whisper; and when I was set down to table, the pair proceeded to
help me with precautions that might have seemed excessive in the
Ear of Dionysius.
'She sleeps up there,' observed the boy, pointing to the ceiling;
and the knowledge that I was so imminently near to the resting-
place of that gold eyeglass touched even myself with some
uneasiness.
Our excellent youth had imported from the city a meat pie, and I
was glad to find it flanked with a decanter of really admirable
wine of Oporto.
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