MISUNDERSTOOD 277 



remarked, handing me back the letter. " Well, 

 well, how time flies, to be sure !" 



I grinned rather sheepishly, for I was not sure 

 whether it would be wise to disabuse Lord Bal- 

 combe at once of the idea that I was my uncle's 

 son, or whether to commence the interview by 

 contradicting him flatly might not be somewhat 

 prejudicial to my interests. 



" Your father and I are very old friends," he 

 continued, still labouring under his original 

 misapprehension. " It seems but the other day 



that he and I and Anthony Gorbals " He 



broke off suddenly. " You know Lord Gorbals, 

 of course ?" he inquired. 



I was loath to appear unacquainted with a 

 man he so evidently expected me to know, and 

 determined therefore to temporize. 



" I — er — Who does not know Lord Gorbals ?" I 

 replied, without, as I hoped, committing myself. 



" Yes, indeed," said Lord Balcombe; " and 

 the more one knows him the better one likes 

 him. Don't you find that ?" 



" I do," I answered heartily; for it was too 

 late now to admit that I was unfamiliar with 

 the subject of our conversation. 



" Gorbals is a man in a thousand !" 



" In ten thousand !" I exclaimed enthusiastic- 

 ally. The statement seemed a safe one, though 

 prefectly meaningless. 



