Perhaps they would know about my fine gentleman. I only hesitated to ask
because in her latter years Miss Bride had adopted a manner of hostility
towards the male sex generally, and was apt to snap at any one who
showed an interest in it even of the slightest. However, I screwed up my
courage.
"Miss Chenevix," I began, "I met a gentleman the other day in our wood
and I wondered who he might be. I can't imagine where he was staying.
And I thought I would ask you if you knew who he was."
"We could do very well without men," Miss Bride said sharply. "In fact,
the world could have got on very well without them. There is nothing a
man can do that a woman can not do better. What was your gentleman like,
Bawn?"
Despite her hostility to the male sex Miss Bride was very curious.
"He was very slim and elegant," I began--"not very young."
"Now what do you mean by not very young, Bawn? Be precise in your
statements," Miss Bride said, with some asperity.
"I should say he was quite forty," I said, blushing, and wishing I had
not mentioned the matter of age.
"Fiddlesticks, child! Forty is young. And so you met this young
gentleman in the wood. And what happened?"
"He took Dido's paw out of a trap.
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