“Oh, is it?”
“Is it not? I see you have been so long out of England you have forgotten these little distinctions; society would go to the deuce without them. We ask our friends, and persons of our own class, to dinner, but we ask who we like to tea in this county. Don't you like her? She is the prettiest girl in the village.”
“Pretty and pert.”
“Ha! ha! that is true. She is saucy enough, and amusing in proportion.”
“It is the man I alluded to.”
“What, David? ay, a very worthy lad. He is a downright modest, well-informed young man.”
“I don't doubt his general merits, but let me ask you a serious question: his evident admiration of Miss Fountain?”
“His ad-mi-ration of Miss Fountain?”
“Is it agreeable to you?”
“It is a matter of consummate indifference to me.”