"A mere boy and girl affair. Cecily was young, and—well, it didn't last long."
"Then there was the case of Laura Merton," continued the arch-inquisitor.
"Poor Laura," I murmured. "I never could resist red hair, and hers was——poor Laura!"
"There were circumstances of a very grave nature."
"You mean the curate? He was a bloodless creature; besides it all ended happily."
"You intervened between an affianced man and wife," continued Mrs. Grundy.
"I am very sorry to appear rude, Madam," I protested hotly, irritated by the even, colourless tones of her voice, "but it was Laura's hair that intervened! Am I to blame because she preferred the ripeness of my maturity to the callowness of his inexperience?"
"You caused her mother—an estimable lady—indescribable anguish of soul."
"She hadn't one," I replied, triumphantly, "She was a scheming old——"
"Silence!" fulminated the Vestal again.