But Madame stopped him with a touch on his arm. "Do you ever make
speeches, Mr. Brooke-Hoskyn?" she asked sweetly.
The great man looked at her with something like suspicion. For a moment
he was undeniably flustered. But he mastered himself with an effort and
replied with a fair assumption of carelessness, "Short ones, Ma'am.
Frequent, but short. I have proposed the health of many gentlemen of
distinction."
"How clever you must be!" cried Ruth, admiringly.
"Oh--!" protested Mr. Brooke-Hoskyn, with exquisite modesty.
Madame pointed to the river, now gleaming in the afterglow. "How
strangely empty the Walk looks without our fisherman!"
"I was wondering what I missed," said Basil, "of course! The Eyesore!"
"He leaves a blank," added Ruth.