"Is Lady Theobald very fond of you?" Octavia had asked, in the course of this visit.
"It is very kind of her, if she is," he replied with languid irony.
"Isn't she fond enough of you to do any thing you ask her?" Octavia inquired.
"Really, I think not," he replied. "Imagine the degree of affection it requires! I am not fond enough of any one to do any thing they ask me."
Octavia bestowed a long look upon him.
"Well," she remarked, after a pause, "I believe you are not. I shouldn't think so."
Barold colored very faintly.
"I say," he said, "is that an imputation, or something of that character? It sounds like it, you know."
Octavia did not reply directly. She laughed a little.
"I want you to ask Lady Theobald to do something," she said.