"Bonnie Prince Charlie, I suppose?"
"Or a tobacconist's sign," said Mrs. Dills who was an adept at saying nasty things. "By-the-way, Mr. Gartney, isn't the company rather mixed?"
Mrs. Dills' papa had been an opulent linen-draper, and Mr. Dills had made his money by a speciality in sheets, so she thought herself quite justified in criticising aristocratic society.
Eustace knew all about Mrs. Dills, and was so amused by the little woman's insolence, that he did not reply half so severely as he had intended to do.
"Ah, you see I've not had your opportunities for judging," he replied drily, "but as far as I can judge, there's nobody here that isn't somebody."
"But their characters," hinted Mrs. Dills, with a seraphic look.
"Ah, bah! I'm no Asmodeus to unroof people's houses."
"What a lucky thing--for the people."
"And what a disappointment--for their friends," said Eustace, significantly.
He hated Mrs. Dills, who was an adept at damning with faint praise, and took away people's characters with the look of a four-year-old child and the tongue of a serpent. Mrs. Dills saw Gartney's meaning, and resenting it with all the viciousness of a small mind, began to be nasty.