"But I understand you—but you were swooning!" he stammered.
"I frequently do, Major John, I also faint, sir, as occasion doth demand."
"God bless my soul!" he exclaimed.
"And wherefore this amaze, sir?"
"'Fore Heaven, madam, I had not dreamed of such—such duplicity."
"O Innocence!" she cried.
"Do all fine ladies feign swoons, madam?"
"Major Innocence, they do! They swoon by rote and they faint by rule."
"Thank Heaven there be none to come swooning my way!" said he fervently.
"Dare you contemn the sex, sir?