"I think it was the very best speech I ever read in my life," said Lucy, with headlong energy and heightened colour.
"Then, Miss Morris, you and I have very different opinions about speeches," said Lord Fawn, with severity. "You have, probably, never read Burke's speeches."
"And I don't want to read them," said Lucy.
"That is another question," said Lord Fawn; and his tone and manner were very severe indeed.
"We are talking about speeches in Parliament," said Lucy. Poor Lucy! She knew quite as well as did Lord Fawn that Burke had been a House of Commons orator; but in her impatience, and from absence of the habit of argument, she omitted to explain that she was talking about the speeches of the day.
Lord Fawn held up his hands, and put his head a little on one side. "My dear Lucy," said Lady Fawn, "you are showing your ignorance. Where do you suppose that Mr. Burke's speeches were made?"
"Of course I know they were made in Parliament," said Lucy, almost in tears.
"If Miss Morris means that Burke's greatest efforts were not made in Parliament,—that his speech to the electors of Bristol, for instance, and his opening address on the trial of Warren Hastings, were, upon the whole, superior to—"
"I didn't mean anything at all," said Lucy.
"Lord Fawn is trying to help you, my dear," said Lady Fawn.