'He is in the army then?'
'Yes; and hangs out at Aldershot.'
Alison felt her colour change at the name of that locality; but she only said,
'Miss De Jobbyns, you should not use the fast phrases you do.'
'Well, ma uses them; ma always does.'
She did not add, that which perhaps she did not know, that her 'ma' had whilom been most accomplished in 'sherry-glass flirtations' while behind the bar at the 'Black Swan.'
'Isn't spoon English?' she asked.
'It is slang.'
'Is it? Well, if the verb "to spoon" is slang, I like it—that is all! But I wish I could flirt.'
'For what purpose?'