"And what did you say?" she asks, with a gravity that befits the occasion.
"I refused," in a low tone.
"To meet him?"
"Yes."
"With me?" says this dragon of propriety.
"Yes."
"But why?"
"Because of Aunt Priscilla." And then she tells her all about Aunt Priscilla's speech in the carriage, and her reply to it.
"I never heard such a rubbishy request in my life!" says the younger Miss Beresford, disdainfully. "It is really beneath notice. And when all is told it means nothing. As I read it, it seems you have only promised to forget you ever spoke to Mr. Desmond: you haven't promised never to speak to him again." Thus the little Jesuit.
"That was not what Aunt Priscilla meant."