I congratulate you, Westcote--if the General will not think it offensive." "Reassure yourself, my dear sir." General Rochambeau bowed.

"No," he continued, lifting his eyes for a moment towards Dorothea, "in one way or another we are rid of our fence-breakers, and the rest must share the credit with our Commissary." "And yet the temptation--," began Lady Bateson.
"Is great, Madame, for some temperaments.

But the Vicomte, here, and I have tried to teach our poor compatriots that in resisting it they fight for France as surely as if they stormed a breach.

And, by the way, I heard a story this morning--if the company would care to hear--" They begged him to tell it.
"But not if the ladies leave us to our wine." He turned to Dorothea.
"If Miss Westcote will rally and stay her forces, good; for, though it came to me casually in a letter, it is a tale of the sort which used to be fashionable in my youth--ah! long before M.le Tocqueville remembers--and for the telling it demanded an audience of ladies, which must help me, who am rusty, to recapture the style, if I can." He pushed back his chair and, crossing his legs, leaned forward and pushed his fingers across the polished mahogany till they touched the base of a wine-glass beside his plate.

One or two of the guests smiled at this formal opening.