“No, my lord, it is French.”
“No, no—no, no; don’t tell me—English, English. People have stuck their advertisement in. Send it back to ’em. Do for some one else.”
“Then your lordship does not like the case?”
“My dear little woman, but I do, doosidly, but don’t offer me any more with that person’s circular inside. There, there, there; take the price out of that five-pound note. Two guineas? And very cheap too. Doosid pretty little piece of art, Miss Clode. Doosid pretty little piece of art.”
“Wouldn’t he have old Mrs Dean’s pink note, auntie?” said Annie, as soon as his lordship had gone.
“My dear child, this will never do. You see and hear far too much.”
“Please auntie, I can’t help it,” drawled the girl. “I shouldn’t speak like that to anyone else.”
“Ah, well, I suppose not; and I have done right, I see. No; he would not have the pink note. This is the second he has refused. Old Mrs Dean will be furious, but she must have known that it would not last long.”
“I know why it is,” said Annie eagerly. “I know, auntie.”
“You know, child?”