"Very good, then, since your future is seated beside you. Capital thing to have your future so handy."And Ralph lighted another cigarette and re昀ected that Isabel probably meant she had received news that Mr.Caspar Goodwood had crossed to Paris. After he had lighted his cigarette he puffed it a while, and then he resumed. "I promised just now to be very amusing;but you see I don＇t come up to the mark, and the fact is there＇s a good deal of temerity in one＇s undertaking to amuse a person like you. What do you care for my feeble attempts? You＇ve grand ideas—you＇ve a high standard in such matters. I ought at least to bring in a band of music or a company of mountebanks."