"Don't you mean to vouchsafe me an answer, Mrs. Algernon Ancram Errington?"
"Oh, I daresay you're very sorry that I am Mrs. Errington. I have no doubt you repent."
"Really! And is that what you were crying for?"
No reply.
"It looks rather as if you repented, madam!"
"Oh, you know I don't; unless you like other people better than you like me!"
"'Other people' don't cry in my company."
"No; because they don't care for you. And because they're——they're nasty, artful minxes!"
"Hear, hear! A charming definition! Castalia, you are really impayable sometimes. How my lord would enjoy that speech of yours!"
"No, he wouldn't. Uncle Val would never enjoy what vexed me. My lady might; nasty, disagreeable old thing!"