"I said that only servants said that." "Well, what did he say ?" "Said that that proved that servants sometimes had better manners than their masters." "Well, I must say, I think he was excessively rude!" asserted Mrs.
Yorke, picking up her fan and beginning to fan rapidly.
"That's what I said; but he said he did not see how it could be rude to state a simple and impersonal fact in a perfectly respectful way." Alice was warming up in defence and swept on.
"He said the new fashion was due to people who were not sure of their own position, and were afraid others might think them servile if they employed such terms." "What does he know about fashion ?" "He says fashion is a temporary and shifting thing, sometimes caused by accident and sometimes made by tradesmen, but that good manners are the same to-day that they were hundreds of years ago, and that though the ways in which they are shown change, the basis is always the same, being kindness and gentility." Mrs.Yorke gasped.
"Well, I must say, you seem to have learned your lesson!" she exclaimed.
Alice had been swept on by her memory not only of the words she was repeating, but of many conversations and interchanges of thought Gordon Keith and she had had during the past weeks, in which he had given her new ideas.

She began now, in a rather low and unsteady voice, her hands tightly clasped, her eyes in her lap: "Mamma, I believe I like him very much--better than I shall ever--" "Nonsense, Alice! Now, I will not have any of this nonsense.

I bring you down here for your health, and you take up with a perfectly obscure young countryman about whom you know nothing in the world, and--" "I know all about him, mamma.

I know he is a gentleman.

His grandfather--" "You know _nothing_ about him," asserted Mrs.Yorke, rising.