His Grace — page 163: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

HIS GRACE. 157 The art of dealing with his equals may perhaps not have been one with the intricacies of which his Grace was equally familiar; or possibly I may be over-pre- sumptuous in claiming a place for myself and my sister amongst his equals. Either way, I don’t think that he displayed conspicuous tact by holding forth to Nora, during our return journey, upon the beauty, the talents and the general distinction of Miss St. George. Nor, to be quite impartial, do I think that it was wise on Nora’s part to vie with him in extolling the merits of a lady whom she scarcely knew and whom it was obvious to the meanest capacity that she detested. Lady Charles was compelled at length to take the ai of the absent by remarking : “Well, she is a handsome girl, but, if you come to that, there are plenty of other handsome girls about. I don’t see what she has done that you should try to make her out talented as well.” Nora, as I have intimated above, did not really so consider her; but, for my own part, I thought Miss St. George had played her cards tolerably skilfully, and I was confirmed in my opinion by Hurstbourne’s amazing assertion that she was, at all events, “ too talented by long chalks for a useless duffer like that fellow Paul.” Mr. Paul Gascoigne may have been a useless duffer; but I was afraid I knew another indi- vidual whom the description fitted equally well and who was in quite as great danger of being made a fool of. Well, if the poor dear fellow was a fool already, without need of anybody’s intervention, and if he couldn’t see what was being made as plain for him as plain could be, so much the better! I took comfort from that thought while my ‘sister was betraying her Gomichboo “S (E(0) m