‘Was Miss Burnet confirmed? She is the dullest girl I ever knew, and she is older than I am. Was she confused?’

‘She was.’

‘Did you give Mary Wright a ticket?’

‘No.’

‘Then, of course, you did not give one to Ned Long. I thought you would never succeed in making him remember which is the ninth commandment.’

‘I did not refuse him.’

‘Indeed! did he improve in a portentous manner?’

‘Not particularly.’

‘Well, you must have been more merciful than I expected.’

‘Indeed!’