"Has it, then, lifted me?"
"Dear Miss Firs-Robinson! What a question! Surely you do not consider yourself part of this discussion?"
He, however, had considered her so, and had taken pleasure in the argument that had laid her low. This was part of what he called his "training" of her!
"You—who are a thing apart, a thing most precious—-"
"I don't want to be a 'thing,' however precious," said Miss Firs-Robinson, with decision. "I should much rather be a 'person,' for choice, however criminal it sounds. It only wants 'age' put to it to be magnificent. And so you call Mr. Blount 'a person'?"
"Perhaps I was wrong," said Ambert contemptuously; "a 'beggar' would be nearer the mark."
CHAPTER V
Meanwhile Agatha was left standing near the doorway, whilst her chaperon was explaining the reason of her late arrival to old Miss Firs-Robinson, Elfrida's aunt.
The girl's eyes were directed towards the dancers, and so absorbed was her gaze that she started visibly when a voice sounded at her elbow—that hated voice!
"May I have the pleasure of this waltz, Miss Nesbitt?"