I am not blind, of course--the training must be supplied; a year
or two of good models, active self-criticism, and good society. I simply
say that the _material_ is there.'
Here was another interval of silence.
'And now tell me, child, what these recollections of
Church--Church--_what_?'
'Church Scarsdale,' I replied.
'Yes, thank you--Church Scarsdale and Knowl--are?'
So I related my stories as well as I could.
'Well, dear Maud, the adventure of Church Scarsdale is hardly so terrific
as I expected,' said Uncle Silas with a cold little laugh; 'and I don't
see, if he had really been the hero of it, why he should shrink from
avowing it. I know I should not. And I really can't say that your pic-nic
party in the grounds of Knowl has frightened me much more. A lady waiting
in the carriage, and two or three tipsy young men. Her presence seems to
me a guarantee that no mischief was meant; but champagne is the soul of
frolic, and a row with the gamekeepers a natural consequence. It happened
to me once--forty years ago, when I was a wild young buck--one of the worst
rows I ever was in.'
And Uncle Silas poured some eau-de-cologne over the corner of his
handkerchief, and touched his temples with it.
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