His Grace — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

HIS GRACE. 26 advantage of a complexion above all criticism. Beauty, : as we all know, admits of no closer definition than something at which we find pleasure in gazing; and I have reason to believe that I am by no means the only man who finds pleasure in gazing at my sister. What seems to show that there must be something wrong about the above definition is that she found and expressed unbounded pleasure in gazing at me. And yet who can tell? It is not impossible that in her eyes my homely countenance may, by reason of her affection for me, have been glorified by some distant suggestion of that comeliness which Nature has denied to it. Anyhow, she was as glad to see me as I was to see her. ‘ But, my dear Phil,” said she presently, “ you might have gone to the expense of a sixpenny telegram before bouncing in upon us like this. If I had only known you were coming, I wouldn’t have promised to dine with Lady Deverell to-night. I’ll tell you what you shall do, you shall come and dine there with me. It isn’t a party, and she won’t at all mind my bringing you ; but, to make assurance doubly sure, I’ll write her a line, saying that you are here for twenty-four hours —of course you can’t have got leave for more than twenty-four hours—and that really I cannot do without you for a whole evening out of that short time.” I demurred to this proposition, because Lady Deverell was not exactly the sort of person with whom I felt in- clined to take a liberty ; but my mother rather eagerly backed Nora up, and the end of it was that, five minutes later, the boy who cleaned the knives and boots, and was supposed to weed the garden, was despatched to Fern Hill with a note. He returned before the dress- ing hour, bearing a scrawl in pencil from Lady Deverell, Gomicboo cS (E(0) m