"Oh, my! my! my! whatt things you do say! quite shocking—though you are but joking; you are nevarre in earnest—nevarre!"
"But occasionally I am," retorted the girl, suddenly rising. "For instance, I am in earnest now, when I tell you that your mud bath will be ready in a quarter of an hour." And as she spoke, she rang a loud peal on the bell.
"Oh, no, no!" wailed her companion, beating the air with two little dumpy hands. "I will not to-day, I will—not. These early hours do kill me. I am too fatigued. No, I will go and lie down for a while and be fresh for this afternoon. I will not take the bath, I will not."
"But really, auntie——"
"Really, child, I promised the duchess to go to her bazaar. I know you are going to play golf. No, I will not take this nasty mud bath—you must not insist—you must not!"
"Well, I shall tell Dr. Krauss," said Verona, nodding her head, "you know you are dreadfully afraid of him."
"I will take it to-morrow—really and truly—oh, truly, I give you my word! Look here, dearie, I cannot take Dog Darling to the bazaar. I think you might allow him to go with you to the Golf. Do!"
"No, indeed, he fetches half the balls, then loses them, and disgraces me."
"Oh, well, then I must ask Minette to get a fly and take him for a nice drive round Saarbruck. The air will do him good, poor darling!"