Mrs. Stewart: I think it’s lovely.
Miss Taylor: Well, I must say I should feel rather embarrassed myself.
Mrs. Ferguson (benign and easy, the professor’s wife): I like that tune so much—Afton Water, isn’t it?
Mrs. Stewart: Yes.
Mrs. Ferguson: Jamie used to whistle it, I remember.
Mrs. Montgomery (marble, more the duchess than Gordon herself): I must say, Mrs. Ferguson, your young lion behaves himself quite prettily.
The Duchess: Why shouldn’t he, Mrs. Montgomery?
Mrs. Montgomery: Oh well, Duchess, you would hardly expect it from a ploughman, now would you?
The Duchess: ‘Flow gently, sweet Afton! among thy green braes’—wouldn’t you expect it of that?
Mrs. Stewart: His conversation is entrancing.