"Perfectly, Mr. Mead. In such a case I shouldn't like it myself."
"Lady Muddock has no objection to being thankful privately, but she doesn't like it talked about."
"You go there a great deal?" she asked, with a glance at him.
"Yes, a good deal."
"And the girl—Alice—is very fond of you?"
"Not the least, I believe."
"Oh, you're bound to say that! Would she go with—with selling the ribbons?" But she went on without waiting for an answer, perhaps because she had risked a snub. "I was received with immense empressement."
"You're a bit of a swell, aren't you?"
"A poverty-stricken Irish widow! No, but I took some swells with me."
"Lord Bowdon, for instance?"