"What has Mr. Bonteen done?" asked the elder, laughing.
"He was boasting this morning openly of whom he intended to bring
with him into the Cabinet." Truth demands that the chronicler should
say that this was a positive fib. Mr. Bonteen, no doubt, had talked
largely and with indiscretion, but had made no such boast as that of
which the Duchess accused him. "Mr. Gresham will get astray if he
doesn't allow some one to tell him the truth."
She did not press the matter any further then, but what she had said
was not thrown away. "Your wife is almost right about that man," the
elder Duke said to the younger.
"It's Mr. Gresham's doing,--not mine," said the younger.
"She is right about Gresham, too," said the elder. "With all his
immense intellect and capacity for business no man wants more looking
after."
That evening Mr. Bonteen was singled out by the Duchess for her
special attention, and in the presence of all who were there
assembled he made himself an ass. He could not save himself from
talking about himself when he was encouraged.
Pages:
633
634
635
636
637
638
639
640
641
642
643
644
645
646
647
648
649
650
651
652
653
654
655
656
657