I remember him clearly
as a fair-haired, supercilious looking, weedily-lank boy, much taller
than I, but I should imagine very little heavier, and that we hated
each other by a sort of instinct from the beginning; and yet I cannot
remember my first meeting with him at all.
Looking back into these past things--it is like rummaging in a neglected
attic that has experienced the attentions of some whimsical robber--I
cannot even account for the presence of these children at Bladesover.
They were, I know, among the innumerable cousins of Lady Drew, and
according to the theories of downstairs candidates for the ultimate
possession of Bladesover. If they were, their candidature was
unsuccessful. But that great place, with all its faded splendour, its
fine furniture, its large traditions, was entirely at the old lady's
disposition; and I am inclined to think it is true that she used this
fact to torment and dominate a number of eligible people. Lord Osprey
was among the number of these, and she showed these hospitalities to his
motherless child and step-child, partly, no doubt, because he was poor,
but quite as much, I nowadays imagine, in the dim hope of finding some
affectionate or imaginative outcome of contact with them.
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