"This is a brilliant scene, Mr. Carruthers; the duchess excels in the
arrangement of her rooms."
He made some reply; he never quite knew what it was. It was enough for
him to watch the charm of that irresistible face as she spoke. "Of
course, everything depends on taste," she continued; "I quite expect you
to laugh at me, but do you know what scene I should find much more
brilliant than this?"
"I cannot imagine," he replied; "but I shall not laugh."
"Ah, well. I am peculiar in my tastes. In place of this brilliant
ballroom, I should like to be seated at a tournament. I should like to
see the knights with their banners and waving plumes, in the lists--the
ladies in their balconies all hung with cloth of gold--the queen of
beauty with the prize. Ah, me! in those days, ladies had knights and men
were heroes."
As he looked at her, his whole soul shone in his eyes.
"And I, too," he cried. "I love those days ten thousand times better
than these."
"Do you?" asked her ladyship with admiring eyes, "how strange! It is not
long since I was speaking to one whom I may call a young man of the
period, and his reply was, 'Horrid bore, those kind of things were, Lady
Lisle,' and I thought most young men were of his opinion."
"I am not," said Basil, "I love those knights and heroes of old! great
men and grand men who were content to ride forth, and to battle unto
death for a woman's smile.
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