“Pardon me, but what is the connection?” asked he, looking both astonished and diverted.
“Don’t you see it? You are much too good for one.”
Mr Raymond laughed. “Thank you; I fear I did not detect the compliment. May I put the counter question, and ask how you came to be a Tory?”
“Why, I was born so,” said I.
“And so was I a Whig,” replied he.
“Excuse me!” came laughingly from my other hand, in Miss Newton’s voice. “The waters are not quite so smooth as they were, and I thought I had better be at hand to pour a little oil if necessary. Mr Raymond, I am afraid you are getting worldly. Is that not the proper word?”
“It is the proper word for an improper thing,” said Mr Raymond. “On what evidence do you rest your accusation, Miss Theresa?”
“On the fact that you have twice in one week made your appearance in Mrs Desborough’s rooms, which are the very pink of worldliness.”
“Have I come without reason?”
“You have not given it me,” said the young lady, laughing. “You cannot always come to tell one of the guests that his (or her) relations have been taken prisoner.”