Other women--notably Maraquita, now happily helping to direct the
destinies of Paranoya--had frightened him by their individuality. Lady
Eva frightened him both by her individuality and the atmosphere of
aristocratic exclusiveness which she conveyed. He had no idea whatever
of what was the proper procedure for a man engaged to the daughter of
an earl. Daughters of earls had been to him till now mere names in the
society columns of the morning paper. The very rules of the game were
beyond him. He felt like a confirmed Association footballer suddenly
called upon to play in an International Rugby match.
All along, from the very moment when--to his unbounded astonishment--she
had accepted him, he had known that he was making a mistake; but he never
realized it with such painful clearness as he did this evening. He was
filled with a sort of blind terror. He cursed the fate which had taken
him to the Charity-Bazaar at which he had first come under the notice of
Lady Kimbuck. The fatuous snobbishness which had made him leap at her
invitation to spend a few days at Evenwood Towers he regretted; but for
that he blamed himself less.
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