Ravenshoe. By Henry Kingsley.

374 RAVENSHOE.
"Now, you grandma," he said, "you keep that old stick of yours
quiet, or you'11 get into trouble. What do you mean by assaulting the head of the house in the public streets? I am ashamed
of you. You, Ravenshoe, you egged her on to do it. I shall
have to punch your head before I have done. How are you
both?"
" And where have you been, you naughty boy?" said Lady
Ascot.
"At Paris," said that ingenuous nobleman, " dicing and brawling as usual. Nobody can accuse me of hiding my talents in a
napkin, grandma. Those two things are all I am fit for, and I
certainly do them with a will. I have fought a duel, too. A
Yankee Doodle got it into his head that he might be impertinent
to Adelaide; so I took him out and shot him. Don't cry, now.
He is not dead. He'11 walk lame though, I fancy, for a time.
How jolly it is to catch you out here. I dread meeting that insufferable prig, Hainault, for fear I should kick him. Give me
her arm, my dear Ravenshoe."
"And where is Adelaide?" said Lady Ascot.
"Up at St. John's Wood," said he. " Do steal away, and come
and see her. Grandma, I was very sorry to hear of poor Charles's
death, - I was indeed. You know what it has done for me; but,
by Gad, I was very sorry.";" Dear Welter, - dear Ascot," said Lady Ascot, "I am sure
you were sorry. Oh! if you would repent, my own dear. If
you would think of the love that Christ bore you when he died
for you. 0 Ascot, Ascot! will nothing save you from the terrible hereafter? "
"I am afraid not, grandma," said Lord Ascot. "It is getting
too cold for you to stay out. Ravenshoe, my dear fellow, take
her in."
And so, after a kind good-by, Lord Ascot walked away
towards the southwest.
I am afraid that John Marston was right. I am afraid he
spoke the truth when he said that Lord Ascot was a savage,
untamable blackguard.