"Won't you have a cup of tea?"
"I never take any at this time of the day."
"Perhaps a cup of coffee?"
"Nothing before dinner, thank you."
"You were not at Castle Hautboy when Hampstead and his sister were there?"
"I have not been at Castle Hautboy since the spring."
"Did you not think it very odd that they should have been asked?"
"No, indeed! Why odd?"
"You know the story;—do you not? As one about to be so nearly connected with the family, you ought to know it. Lady Frances has made a most unfortunate engagement, to a young man altogether beneath her,—to a Post Office clerk!"
"I did hear something of that."