The two of them learnt the new game rapidly and well; they experimented
abroad, they experimented at home. At Chiselhurst, with the aid of
a new, very costly, but highly instructive cook, they tried over
everything they heard of that roused their curiosity and had any
reputation for difficulty, from asparagus to plover's eggs. They
afterwards got a gardener who could wait at table--and he brought the
soil home to one. Then there came a butler.
I remember my aunt's first dinner-gown very brightly, and how she stood
before the fire in the drawing-room confessing once unsuspected pretty
arms with all the courage she possessed, and looking over her shoulder
at herself in a mirror.
"A ham," she remarked reflectively, "must feel like this. Just a
necklace."...
I attempted, I think, some commonplace compliment.
My uncle appeared at the door in a white waistcoat and with his hands in
his trouser pockets; he halted and surveyed her critically.
"Couldn't tell you from a duchess, Susan," he remarked. "I'd like
to have you painted, standin' at the fire like that.
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