"Forgive my strong language," he added; "really, they are grand adjectives those, 'diabolical' and 'infernal.' They call up the whole of Dante to my mind." Margaret laughed.
"Are you fond of Dante ?" asked she.
"Very.

I sometimes buy a cheap copy and substitute the names of my pet enemies all through the _Inferno_ wherever they will suit the foot.

In that way I get all the satisfaction the author got by putting his friends in hell, without the labour of writing, or the ability to compose, the poem." The Countess laughed again.
"Do you ever do the same thing with the _Paradiso_ ?" "No," answered Uncle Horace, with a smile.

"Purgatory belonged to an age when people were capable of being made better by suffering, and as for paradise, my heaven admits none but the fair sex.

They are all beautiful, and many of them are young." "Will you admit me, Mr.Bellingham ?" "St.Margaret has forestalled me," said he gallantly, "for she has a paradise of her own, it seems, to which she has admitted me." And so they passed the evening pleasantly until the hour warned them that it was time to go to the great Van Sueindell house.