Phyllida was somewhat embarrassed by the sudden announcement of his relationship to that dreadful Mr. Lovely, who had lampooned the whole of the fashionable world. She wondered if the elderly gentleman was aware of his nephew's late indiscretion, whether she ought to break the news of his odium, and finally with a maid's inconsequence fell to wishing she had never eloped since the step had involved her in so awkward an adventure.
Sir George, noticing her embarrassment, introduced himself,
"My name is Repington, ma'am--Sir George Repington." As he said this he received the miniature from Phyllida, and having, as it were, fondled the oval for a second, replaced it in the upper left-hand pocket of his waistcoat.
The introduction put Phyllida deeper than ever into a quandary. She felt the genteel movement to be a low curtsey coupled with the graceful revelation of her name, but this was just the act she could not bring herself to perform. What a vast number of polite difficulties attached themselves to an elopement, and how she wished with all her heart she had never been so foolish as to brave them unaccompanied.
"The resemblance is certainly very remarkable," said Sir George Repington.
Phyllida clutched this conversational straw.
"I doubt, sir, 'twould ill become me to allow the compliment."
The stilted reply did not seem to offend the elderly gentleman, for he bowed very gallantly and tapped the lid of his snuff-box with an air.
"And my nephew, ma'am, what does Curtain Wells think of my nephew?"
Luckily for Phyllida who was racking her brains to devize a polite method of informing Sir George Repington that his nephew had offended the whole world, that is to say the whole world known to the residents and visitors of Curtain Wells, Mrs. Tabrum came back to say that a pair of fowls were on their way.
"A morsel of cheese is all that I require, thank'ee," said Sir George to this information. "A morsel of cheese, well-aired sheets and----"
"A bit off the breast," murmured Mrs. Tabrum coaxingly.
"A grilled drumstick," insinuated the landlady.
Sir George Repington capitulated and sat down to supper with Phyllida opposite and a great bowl of daffadillies between them.
Nobody ever found out what exactly was the elderly gentleman's unspoken requirement.