“Aye, and you too! But that comes naturally, and began in babyhood!”
“What have you done with the house at Brompton?”
“Martha is taking care of it—Mrs. Lightfoot, don’t you know? One of our old interminable little Lightfoots, who went to be a printer in London, married, and lost his wife; then in our break-up actually married Martha to take care of his children! Now he is dead, and I am thankful to have her in the house.”
“To frighten loafers with her awful squint.”
“You forgive the rejection of ‘The Inspector’s Tour’? Indeed I think you expected it.”
“I wanted to see whether the young ladies would find it out.”
“No compliment to our genius,” said his aunt.
“I assure you, like Mrs. Bennet, ‘there is plenty of that sort of thing,’” said Anna. “Some of them were mystified, but Gillian and Dolores Mohun were in ecstasies.”
“Ecstasies from that cheerful name?”
“She is the New Zealand niece—Mr. Maurice Mohun’s daughter. They carried it home to their seniors, and of course the verdict was ‘too strong for Rockquay atmosphere,’” said his aunt.