In point of fact I had rather not"
"I might see him," suggested Lord Mistletoe.
"No doubt that might be done with advantage," said the Duke.
"Only that, as he is my senior in age, what I might say to him
would lack that weight which any observations which might be made
on such a matter should carry with them."
"He didn't care a straw for me," said Lord Augustus.
"And then," continued Lord Mistletoe, "I so completely agree with
what my father says as to the advantage of female influence! With a
man of Lord Rufford's temperament female influence is everything.
If my aunt were to try it?" Lord Augustus blew the breath out of
his mouth and raised his eyebrows.
Knowing what he did of his wife, or thinking that he knew what he
did, he did not conceive it possible that a worse messenger should
be chosen. He had known himself to be a very bad one, but he did
honestly believe her to be even less fitted for the task than he
himself. But he said nothing,--simply wishing that he had not left
his whist for such a purpose as this.
"Perhaps Lady Augustus had better see him," said the Duke. The
Duchess, who did not love hypocrisy, would not actually assent to
this, but she said nothing. "I suppose my sister-in-law would not
object, Augustus?"
"G-- Almighty only knows," said the younger brother.
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