"Did you teach him all those tricks yourself ?" "Very nearly all," said I."Rubens, shake hands with Sir Lionel." "How do you know my name ?" he asked.
"Polly told me," said I.
"Do you know Polly ?" Sir Lionel inquired.
I stared, forgetting that of course he did not know who I was, and answered-- "She's my cousin." "What's your name ?" he asked.
I told him.
"Do you like Polly ?" he continued.
"Very much," I said, warmly.
It was with a ludicrous imitation of some grown-up person's manner that he added, in perfect gravity-- "I hope you are not in love with her ?" "Oh, dear no!" I cried, hastily, for I had had enough of that joke with Miss Eliza Burton.
"Then that is all right," said the little baronet; "let us be friends." And friends we became.

"Call me Leo, and I'll call you Reginald," said the little gentleman; and so it was.
I think it is not doing myself more than justice if I say that to this, my first friendship, I was faithful and devoted.

Leo, for his part, was always affectionate, and he had an admiration for Rubens which went a long way with Rubens' master.

But he was a little spoiled and capricious, and, like many people of rather small capacities (whether young or old), he was often unintentionally inconsiderate.

In those days my affection waited willingly upon his; but I know now that in a quiet amiable way he was selfish.