"Like the feminine creature she is, Mr. Beverley!"
"Now by Og,—I say by Og and Gog, mam! She is my ward, and so long as I am her guardian she shall obey—"
"I say boh! Jack Chumly,—I say bah!" mocked the Duchess, nodding her head at him. "Cleone is much too clever for you—or any other man, and there is only one woman in this big world who is a match for her, and that woman is—me. I've watched her growing up—day by day—year after year into—just what I was—ages ago,—and to-day she is—almost as beautiful,—and—very nearly as clever!"
"Clever, mam? So she is, but I'm her guardian and—she loves me—I think, and—"
"Of course she loves you, Jack, and winds you round her finger whenever she chooses—"
"Finger, mam! finger indeed! No, mam, I can be firm with her."
"As a candle before the fire, Jack. She can bend you to all the points of your compass. Come now, she brought you here this afternoon against your will,—now didn't she?"
"Ah!—hum!" said the Captain, scratching his chin.
"And coaxed you into your famous Trafalgar uniform, now didn't she?"
"Why as to that, mam, I say—"