Vaughan, who thought so too, replied: “Mrs Lascelles must be aware that I was only joking.”
“Fie! Mr Vaughan,” cried Cecilia Ossulton; “you know it came from your heart.”
“My dear Cecilia,” said the elder Miss Ossulton, “you forget yourself—what can you possibly know about gentlemen’s hearts?”
“The Bible says that they are ‘deceitful and desperately wicked,’ aunt.”
“And cannot we also quote the Bible against your sex, Miss Ossulton?” replied Seagrove.
“Yes, you could, perhaps, if any of you had ever read it,” replied Miss Ossulton, carelessly.
“Upon my word, Cissy, you are throwing the gauntlet down to the gentlemen,” observed Lord B—; “but I shall throw my warder down, and not permit this combat à l’outrance.—I perceive you drink no more wine, gentlemen, we will take our coffee on deck.”
“We were just about to retire, my lord,” observed the elder Miss Ossulton, with great asperity: “I have been trying to catch the eye of Mrs Lascelles for some time, but—”
“I was looking another way, I presume,” interrupted Mrs Lascelles, smiling.
“I am afraid that I am the unfortunate culprit,” said Mr Seagrove. “I was telling a little anecdote to Mrs Lascelles—”