'I cannot see what induced you to go,' said Sir Edward; 'I thought Lizzie had more sense.'
'I believe the actual impulse was given by a dispute between Lizzie and me on the date of chivalry,' said Anne.
'And so Rupert's friends, the Turners, are great authorities in history,' said Sir Edward; 'I never should have suspected it.'
'Now I think of it,' said Anne, 'it was the most ridiculous part of the affair, considering the blunder that Lizzie told me Mrs. Turner made about St. Augustine. What could we have been dreaming of?'
'Midsummer madness,' said Sir Edward.
'But just tell me, Papa,' said Anne, 'do you not think Helen quite the heroine of the story?'
'I think Helen very much improved in appearance and manners,' said Sir Edward; 'and I am quite willing to believe all that I see you have to tell me of her.'
'Do not wait to tell it now, Anne,' said Lady Merton, 'or Mrs. Woodbourne will not think us improved in appearance or manners. It is nearly six o'clock.'
'I will keep it all for the journey home,' said Anne, 'when Papa's ears will be disengaged.'
'And his tongue too, to give you a lecture upon Radicalism, Miss,' said Sir Edward, with a fierce gesture, which drove Anne away laughing.