“For shame, sir! I’m very fond of Lady Lombard.”

“But you know she is a silly woman.”

“Well, never mind. Who planned this hoax?”

“Bracy, the so-called interpreter.”

“Does Prince Frere talk real Persian?”

“Yes.”

“And does the other man understand him?”

“Not a bit.”

“Then he invents all the answers? That’s rather clever of him. I shall go and listen presently. And you can’t talk either Persian or gibberish, so you held your tongue and looked sulky. Well, I think it’s all very wrong; but it’s rather droll. Poor, dear Lady Lombard! she’d never survive it if she did but know! And now, tell me, lastly, what put you in a rage just this minute and enabled me to find you out?”

“You would not care to know.”