velvet voice while Mr. Barton was engaging Christopher’s attention. [49] They stayed such a long time in the dining-room after I left that I was on my way to bed when they came out into the hall, and could with difficulty be persuaded to remain for a few moments. “I am too awfully sorry!” Lord Robert said. “I could not get away, I do not know what possessed Christopher, he would sample ports, and talked the hind leg off a donkey, till at last I said to him straight out I wanted to come to you. So here I am—now you won’t go to bed, will you—please, please.” He has such pleading blue eyes—imploring pathetically like a baby in distress—it is quite impossible to resist him! and we started down the gallery. Of course he did not know the difference between a Canaletto and a Turner, and hardly made a pretence of being interested, in fact when we got to the end where the early[50] Italians hang, and I was explaining the wonderful texture of a Madonna, he said: [50] “They all look sea-sick, and out of shape! don’t you think we might sit in that comfy window seat and talk of something else!” Then he told me he loved pictures, but not this sort. “I like people to look human you know, even on canvas,” he said. “All these ladies appear as if they were getting enteric like people used in Africa, and I don’t like their halos, and things, and all the men are old and bald. But you must not think me a Goth—you will teach me their points, won’t you, and then I shall love them.” I said I did not care a great deal for them myself, except the colour. “Oh! I am so glad,” he said. “I should like to find we admired the same things; but no picture could interest me as much as your hair. It is the loveliest thing I have ever seen, and you do it so beautifully.” That did please me! He has the most engaging ways, Lord Robert, and he is very[51] well informed, not stupid a bit, or thick, only absolutely simple and direct. We talked softly together, quite happy for a while. [51] Then Mr. Carruthers got rid of Mr. Barton, and came towards us. I settled myself more comfortably on the velvet cushions. Purple velvet cushions and curtains in this gallery, good old
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