The hauteur and insolence with which the young count treated his inferiors were a constant source of exasperation to Harry.
"He thinks himself a little god," he would often mutter to himself.
"I would give a good deal to have him for three months at Westminster.
Wouldn't he get his conceit and nonsense knocked out of him!" At the same time he was always scrupulously polite and courteous to his English companion--much too polite, indeed, to please Harry.
He had good qualities too: he was generous with his money, and if during their rides a woman came up with a tale of distress he was always ready to assist her.

He was clever, and Harry, to his surprise, found that his knowledge of Latin was far beyond his own, and that Ernest could construct passages with the greatest ease which altogether puzzled him.

He was a splendid rider, and could keep his seat with ease and grace on the most fiery animals in his father's stables.
When they went out with their guns Harry felt his inferiority keenly.

Not only was Ernest an excellent shot, but at the end of a long day's sport he would come in apparently fresh and untired, while Harry, although bodily far the most powerful, would be completely done up; and at gymnastic exercises he could do with ease feats which Harry could at first not even attempt.

In this respect, however, the English lad in three months' time was able to rival him.