This is very strange.'
'Why, indeed, Plantagenet,' replied Venetia, 'I was very unwell when
George visited us; but I really have quite forgotten that I ever was
an invalid, and I never mean to be again.'
'"Plantagenet!"' soliloquised Herbert. 'And this is the great poet
of whom I have heard so much! My daughter is tolerably familiar with
him.'
'I have brought you all sorts of buffooneries from Stamboul,'
continued Cadurcis; 'sweetmeats, and slippers, and shawls, and daggers
worn only by sultanas, and with which, if necessary, they can keep
"the harem's lord" in order. I meant to have sent them with George to
England, for really I did not anticipate our meeting here.'
'"Sweetmeats and slippers,"' said Herbert to himself, '"shawls and
daggers!" What next?'
'And has George been with you all the time?' inquired Venetia.
'Oh! we quarrelled now and then, of course. He found Athens dull, and
would stay at Constantinople, chained by the charms of a fair Perote,
to whom he wanted me to write sonnets in his name. I would not,
because I thought it immoral. But, on the whole, we got on very well;
a sort of Pylades and Orestes, I assure you; we never absolutely
fought.'
'Come, come,' said George, 'Cadurcis is always ashamed of being
amiable.
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