“Isn't she?”

“But mine is so good.”

“Mine is very good, too, Ruperta. Wonderfully good.”

“I like you, Compton—a little.”

“I like you a good deal, Ruperta.”

“La, do you? I wonder at that: you are like a cherub, and I am such a black thing.”

“But that is why I like you. Reginald is darker than you, and oh, so beautiful!”

“Hum!—he is a very bad boy.”

“No, he is not.”

“Don't tell stories, child; he is. I know all about him. A wicked, vulgar, bad boy.”