“And what,” asked the Duke, with deep misgiving, “did you reply to that?”
“I said I should like it above all things,” said Belinda innocently.
“Lord, I think girls are the stupidest things!” said Tom, in disgust. “If he had asked me, I would have told him that I would rather have a pair of stilts, or something jolly like that! Oh, Mr. Rufford, there was a man at the Fair, walking on a pair so high that I daresay he could have looked into all the upper windows in the town! If I had a pair like that, I could have such larks, and frighten all the old ladies in their beds by looking in at them! Will you buy me a pair, sir? I daresay there may be a shop which sells them, and I know I could learn to walk on them in a trice.”
“No, I will not,” answered the Duke, not mincing matters. “Belinda, didn’t I tell you you must not speak to strange men?”
“Not even when they offer to buy me a ring?” she asked.
“Least of all when they offer to buy you a ring!”
“But how shall I ever have a ring, or a silk dress, if I must not speak to any gentlemen?” she asked reasonably.
“If only you will be good, and mind what I tell you,” said the Duke,” perhaps you shall have a silk dress!”
Belinda sighed. “That is what Uncle Swithin said, only he never gave it to me,” she observed.
“Well, never mind that now! What happened when you told this buck that you would like a ring?”