“But fancy taking poor Propriety there. What did she say?”
“Say? She scolded a good deal.”
“Scolded! Poor little proper thing! How I should have liked to have seen her. Did she open her purse, and exhibit its emptiness to the company at large? Did she stand on a chair and lecture the frivolous people who assemble in that house on the emptiness of life? Oh, how I wish I could have looked on at the fun!”
“You’d have beheld an edifying sight then, my dear,” said Rosalind. “Prissie’s whole behaviour was one to be copied. No words can describe her tact and grace.”
“But what did she do, Rosie? I wish you would speak out and tell us. You know you are keeping something back.”
“Whenever she saw me she scolded me, and she tripped over my dress several times.”
“Oh, you dear, good, patient Rosalind, what a bore she must have been.”
“No, she wasn’t, for I scarcely saw anything of her. She amused herself capitally without me, I can tell you.”
“Amused herself? Propriety amused herself? How diverting! Could she stoop to it?”
“She did. She stooped and—conquered. She secured for herself an adorer.”