She implored him not to laugh at anything English.
"I don't, I assure you," said he. "I love the country, too. But when one
comes back from abroad, and plunges into their daily life, it's difficult
to retain the real figure of the old country seen from outside, and one
has to remember half a dozen great names to right oneself. And Englishmen
are so funny! Your father comes here to see his old friend, and begins
boasting of the Gippsland he has left behind. Tinman immediately brags of
Helvellyn, and they fling mountains at one another till, on their first
evening together, there's earthquake and rupture--they were nearly at
fisticuffs at one time."
"Oh! surely no," said Annette. "I did not hear them. They were good
friends when you came to the drawingroom. Perhaps the wine did affect
poor papa, if it was bad wine. I wish men would never drink any. How much
happier they would be."
"But then there would cease to be social meetings in England. What should
we do?"
"I know that is a sneer; and you were nearly as enthusiastic as I was on
board the vessel," Annette said, sadly.
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