‘Ask James.’
Barndale rises obediently.
‘No, no,’ says the lady. ‘Sit down, Mr. Barndale. I was only joking. There was no reason.’ And now the young lady is blushing. ‘Did I really laugh?’
‘You smiled,’ says the guilty Barndale. ‘At what?’ inquires she with innocent inadvertency.
‘Oh!’ cries the young fellow, laughing outright, ‘that is too bad. Why did you laugh when I said it was singular?’
‘I am not prepared,’ she answers, ‘to account for all my smiles of yesterday.’
‘Then,’ says Barndale, ‘I’ll go and ask Jimmy.’
‘You will do nothing of the kind.’
‘Why?’
‘Because you are too polite, Mr. Barndale, to pry into a lady’s secrets.’