“There isn’t a Papa Crossland, if you mean that. There is a young Mr Crossland.”
“Oh!” said I.
“Pray, Miss Caroline, what do you mean by ‘Oh’?” asked Hatty, whose eyes laughed with fun.
“Oh, nothing,” I replied.
“Oh!” replied Hatty, so exactly in my tone that I could not help laughing. “Take care, her Ladyship may see you.”
“Hatty, why do you call Cecilia ‘her Ladyship’?”
“Well, it doesn’t know anything, does it?” replied Hatty, in her teasing way. “Only just up from the country, isn’t it? Madam, Mr Anthony Parmenter as was (as old Will says) is Sir Anthony Parmenter; and Miss Cecilia Osborne as was, is her Ladyship.”
“Do you mean to say Cecilia has married Mr Parmenter?”
“Oh dear, no! she has married Sir Anthony.”
“Then she jilted our father for a title? The snake!”