"It seems to me," said Sir Bale, a good deal astonished, "you rather forget yourself."
"Easier to forget oneself, Sir Bale, than to forgive others, at times," replied Philip Feltram in his unparalleled mood.
"That's the way fools knock themselves up," continued Sir Bale. "You've been walking ever so far—away to the Fells of Golden Friars. It was you whom I saw there. What d----d folly! What brought you there?"
"To observe you," he replied.
"And have you walked the whole way there and back again? How did you get there?"
"Pooh! how did I come—how did you come—how did the fog come? From the lake, I suppose. We all come up, and then down." So spoke Philip Feltram, with serene insolence.
"You are pleased to talk nonsense," said Sir Bale.
"Because I like it—with a meaning."