"Auntie, you are an old goose!" exclaimed Austin, with a burst of laughter. "You never could see a joke. She called you a respectable-looking body, and you called her a queer old woman like a nurse. Now you say she's a shameless old hussy, and so, on the whole, I think you've won the match."
Aunt Charlotte relapsed into silence, and did not speak again until the dessert had been brought in. Austin helped himself to a plateful of black cherries, while his aunt toyed with a peach. At last she said, in rather a hesitating tone:
"Well, you've told me your adventures, so there's an end of that. But I've had a little adventure of my own this afternoon; though whether it would interest you to hear it——"
"Oh, do tell me!" said Austin, eagerly. "An adventure—you?"
"I'm not sure whether adventure is quite the correct expression," replied Aunt Charlotte, "and I don't quite know how to begin. You see, my dear Austin, that you are very young."
"It isn't anything improper, is it?" asked Austin, innocently.
"If you say such things as that I won't utter another word," rejoined his aunt. "I simply state the fact—that you are very young."
"And I hope I shall always remain so," Austin said.
"That being the case," resumed his aunt, impressively, "a great many things happened long before you were born."
"I've never doubted that for a moment, even in my most sceptical moods," Austin assured her seriously.