"Or you do."
"Don't talk nonsense." (He was probably going to say "Tommy-rot" but considered such striking words unfit for the ear of a débutante. This was my début, I suppose? My very first ball.)
"Then tell me what you were unprepared for in me."
"I was prepared for it at first, before I saw you. But——"
"What?"
"Well, if you will have it, for your flirting."
Suddenly I felt impish, and said, innocently, that I supposed it was what girls came on board men-o'-war to do, so I had only done my best to please. By this time we'd stopped dancing, and were sitting down. I'd forgotten Dick Burden.
"It all depends upon the point of view," he answered, with rather a disgusted air.
"My point of view is," said I, gravely, "that soldiers as well as sailors should approve of flirting, because flirtation is a warlike act; a short incursion into the enemy's country, with the full intention of getting back untouched."
"Ah, but what of the enemy?" suggested the Dragon.