The ruffled host was half appeased, half wroth.

For if he _could_ make this agreeable impression, why such a superfluity of naughtiness downstairs?
And the fellow had really some general cultivation; nothing like Welby, of course--where would you find another Arthur Welby ?--but enough to lift him above the mere journeyman.

After all, one must be indulgent to these novices--with no traditions behind them--and no--well, to put it plainly--no grandfathers! And so, with reflexions of this kind, the annoyance of a good-natured man subsided.
It was all Eugenie's doing, of course.

She and Welby between them had caught the bear, tamed him, and set him to show whatever parlour tricks he possessed.

Just like her! He hoped the young man understood her condescension--and that to see her and talk with her was a privilege.