"Oh, sir, don't be hasty. I dare say he'll be fat when he's old."
"Don't be pert, miss. D'ye know all the county's talking of you and this fellow?"
Alison paled a little. She spoke in a still small voice. "I did not know how much I was in Mr. Hadley's debt. I advise you, Sir John, don't be one of those who talk."
"You advise me, miss! Damme, ain't I your guardian?"
"I am trying to remember that you once were, sir. But you make it very hard."
"What the devil do you mean?"
"I mean—"
"I vow neither of you knows what you mean," Mr. Hadley drowned her in a drawl. "I never saw such fire-eaters. Look 'e, Alison, we come riding over in a civil way and—"
"Tell me you have been planning a scandal about me. Oh, I vow I am obliged to you."
Mr. Hadley laughed. "Lud, child, you ha' known me long enough. Do I deal in tattle? And if we have seen what we should not ha' seen, if you're hot at being caught, prithee, whose fault is it? Egad, you know well enough there's things beneath Miss Lambourne's dignity."