. The shop, if not the thing,
might still have been concealed from her husband, she thought.
    »It mattered to me when I was well off,« she said, sternly.
    »Yes; and to me when I was; but we've had a fall and a lesson since that, my
dear. Half the aristocracy of England spring from shops! - Shall I measure you?«
    Harriet never felt such a desire to inflict a slap upon mortal cheek. She
marched away from her in a tiff. On the other hand, Andrew was half fascinated
by the Countess's sudden re-assumption of girlhood, and returned - silly fellow!
to have another look at her. She had ceased, on reflection, to be altogether so
vivacious: her stronger second nature had somewhat resumed its empire: still she
was fresh, and could at times be roguishly affectionate: and she patted him, and
petted him, and made much of him; slightly railed at him for his uxoriousness
and domestic subjection, and proffered him her fingers to try the taste of. The
truth must be told: Mr. Duffian not being handy, she in her renewed earthly
happiness wanted to see her charms in a woman's natural mirror: namely, the face
of man: if of man on his knees, all the better: and though a little man is not
much of a man, and a sister's husband is, or should be, hardly one at all, still
some sort of a reflector he must be. Two or three jests adapted to Andrew's
palate achieved his momentary captivation.
    He said: »'Gad, I never kissed you in my life, Louy.«
    And she, with a flavour of delicate Irish brogue, »Why don't ye catch
opportunity by the tail, then?«
    Perfect innocence, I assure you, on both sides.
    But mark how stupidity betrays. Andrew failed to understand her, and act on
the hint immediately. Had he done so, the affair would have been over without a
witness. As it happened, delay permitted Harriet to assist at the ceremony.
    »It wasn't your mouth, Louy,« said Andrew.
    »Oh, my mouth! - that I keep for my chosen,« was answered.
    »'Gad, you make a fellow almost wish -« Andrew's fingers worked over his
poll, and then the spectre of righteous wrath flashed on him - naughty little
man that he was! He knew himself naughty, for it was the only time since his
