Dora laughed for five minutes.
‘Oh, what a splendid epigram!’ she exclaimed. ‘It is indeed a queer thing, Jasper! Did you mean that to be a good joke, or was it better still by coming out unintentionally?’
‘You are in remarkable spirits, old girl. By-the-by, would you mind letting me see that letter of yours?’
He held out his hand.
‘I left it upstairs,’ Dora replied carelessly.
‘Rather presumptuous in him, it seems to me.’
‘Oh, he writes quite as respectfully to me as he does to you,’ she returned, with a peculiar smile.
‘But what business has he to write at all? It’s confounded impertinence, now I come to think of it. I shall give him a hint to remember his position.’
Dora could not be quite sure whether he spoke seriously or not. As both of them had begun to eat with an excellent appetite, a few moments were allowed to pass before the girl again spoke.
‘His position is as good as ours,’ she said at length.