'Not in the least! I am ignorant to a redundance.'
'And were you never more adroit?'
'Never. A goth in grain! Witless from the first muling in my nurse's arms!'
'Come, come, a truce for a moment, with foppery, and answer me seriously; Were you ever in love, Clarendel? speak the truth. I am just seized with a passionate desire to know.'
'Why ... yes ...' answered he, pulling his lips with his fingers, 'I think—I rather think ... I was once.'
'O tell! tell! tell!'
'Nay, I am not very positive. One hears it is to happen; and one is put upon thinking of it, while so very young, that one soon takes it for granted. Define it a little, and I can answer you more accurately. Pray, is it any thing beyond being very fond, and very silly, with a little touch of melancholy?'
'Precise! precise! Tell me, therefore, what it was that caught you. Beauty? Fortune? Flattery? or Wit? Speak! speak! I die to know!'
'O, I have forgotten all that these hundred years! I have not the smallest trace left!'
'You are a terrible coxcomb, my dear Clarendel! and I am a worse myself for giving you so much encouragement. But, however, we must absolutely do something for this fair and drooping violet. She won't go even to the play tonight.'