Lord William: I don’t like her wig.
Mrs. Martineau: Why do wigs always calumniate hair?
Ann: You will see them all at dinner to-morrow.
Selina: And Sir Henry Bootle will say to Ninian: “That’s a new acquisition, isn’t it?” pointing to the oldest family portrait, and Ninian will reply: “It has hung there for four hundred years.” And Ann will be wretched. Then Lady Bootle will exclaim: “What a superb emerald,” and Ninian will indicate that it was given to an ancestress by Catherine the Great, and Ann will wish she hadn’t put it on.
Lady Emily: And the vicar will say to me: “Quite a stranger, Lady Emily,” which he always says, however often I come, and I will answer: “I had meant to be down before,” and he will shake his finger playfully at me, exclaiming: “A change of mind is the prerogative of the fair sex.” And at that moment, God willing, dinner will be announced.
Ann: I think you are all very unkind, and as I am very tired I am going to shoo you all away.
Lord William (grumbling): You manage things so simply, Ann. When you want people to come, you ask them to come, and when you want them to go, you ask them to go.
Lady Emily: Why can’t you let the poor child alone? She is tired.
Molyneux: We can believe that she is tired, but we are incapable of believing that we are not refreshing.