"Well, I suppose they must be boys;—at least the most of them."
"They are all from nine to twelve, I say," continued Mr. Stistick, completely bewildered.
"Oh, that alters the question," said the judge.
"Not at all," said Mr. Stistick. "There is accommodation for only—"
"Well, we'll ask Lady Harcourt. What do you say, Lady Harcourt?"
Lady Harcourt felt herself by no means inclined to enter into the joke on either side; so she said, with her gravest smile, "I'm sure Mr. Stistick understands very well what he's talking about."
"What do you say, ma'am?" said the judge, turning round to the lady on his left.
"Mr. Stistick is always right on such matters," said the lady.
"See what it is to have a character. It absolutely enables one to upset the laws of human nature. But still I do say, Mr. Solicitor, that the majority of them were probably boys."
"Boys!" exclaimed the member of Parliament. "Boys! I don't think you can have understood a word that we have been saying."