“Why couldn't he take them at breakfast and not betray his idiocy?” said Mr. Harwood.
“Mr. Harwood, you have no sympathy for sufferers from sensitiveness,” replied the lady. “Poor Mr. Glaston! he had an excellent appetite, but he found it impossible to touch anything the instant he saw that fearful pink dress with the blue ribbon hanging over it.”
“Poor fellow!” said Mr. Harwood.
“Dam puppy!” said the doctor.
“Campion!” cried Mrs. Crawford severely.
“A thousand pardons! my dear Miss Gerald,” said the transgressor. “But what can a man say when he hears of such puppyism? This is my third voyage with that young man, and he has been developing into the full-grown puppy with the greatest rapidity.”
“You have no fine feeling, Campion,” said Mrs. Crawford. “You have got no sympathy for those who are artistically sensitive. But hush! here is the offending person herself, and with such a hat! Now admit that to look at her sends a cold shudder through you.”
“I think her a devilish pretty little thing, by gad,” said the doctor.
The young lady with the pink dress and the blue ribbon appeared, wearing the additional horror of a hat lined with yellow and encircled with mighty flowers.
“Something must be done to suppress her,” said Mrs. Crawford decisively. “Surely such people must have a better side to their natures that one may appeal to.”