‘What do you think of this, Bessie?’ exclaimed Admiral Merrifield. ‘We seem to have got a young firebrand in the midst of us.’
‘Oh, papa! have you got that thing? What a pity!’
‘You don’t mean that you have seen it before?’
‘Yes; one of my acquaintances in London sent it to me.’
‘And you kept it to yourself?’
‘I thought it would only vex you and mamma. Who sent it to you?’
‘Anne did, with all the passages marked. What a horrid little treacherous baggage!’
‘I daresay we are very tempting. For once we see ourselves as others see us! And you see ’tis American.’
‘All the worse, holding us, who have done our best to welcome her hospitably, up to the derision of the Yankees!’
‘But you won’t take any notice.’