'
'You are consistent in being charming,' said Lord Eugene.
'Pleasing and original!' said Edith. 'By-the-bye, when I consented that
the melancholy Jaques should be one of my aides-de-camp I expected him
to maintain his reputation, not only for gloom but wit. I think you had
better go back to the forest, Lord Eugene, and see if you cannot
stumble upon a fool who may drill you in repartee. How do you do, Lady
Riddlesworth?' and she bowed to two ladies who seemed inclined to stop,
but Edith added, 'I heard great applications for you this moment on the
terrace.'
'Indeed!' exclaimed the ladies; and they moved on.
'When Lady Riddlesworth joins the conversation it is like a stoppage in
the streets. I invented a piece of intelligence to clear the way, as
you would call out Fire! or The queen is coming! There used to be things
called _vers de societe_, which were not poetry; and I do not see why
there should not be social illusions which are not fibs.'
'I entirely agree with you,' said Lord Milford; 'and I move that we
practise them on a large scale.'
'Like the verses, they might make life more light,' said Lady Theresa.
'We are surrounded by illusions,' said Lord Eugene, in a melancholy
tone.
'And shams of all descriptions,' said Edith; 'the greatest, a man who
pretends he has a broken heart when all the time he is full of fun.
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