"If I allow you to tell it in your own way you will stumble and break down; will cry, and faint again, perhaps. I put you, therefore, in the witness-box, where you are to speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Are you ready?"
"Yes, uncle."
"No evasions, no gloss; plain and unvarnished. Deceive me once, and you will find me a tough customer. First, let me say that I am agreeably surprised in you. Brought up in the country I know not how, I might have expected my niece to be a raw country wench with rough manners and small education. I find, on the contrary, a lady who can read and write."
"Yes, uncle," said Nansie, with a smile, "I can do that."
"And can cipher, perhaps."
"I am not very good at figures, uncle."
"Of course not--you are a woman. But languages now. French, perhaps?"
"Yes, uncle."
"And German?"
"Yes, uncle."