'We were never anything else,' said Lennox.
'That being the case,' continued Miss Delacour, 'you will of course listen to the object of my mission here.'
'I will listen, Agnes; but I do not say that I shall either comprehend or take an interest in your so-called mission.'
'Ah, narrow, narrow man,' said Miss Delacour, shaking her plump finger playfully at her host as she spoke.
'Am I narrow? I did not know it,' replied Lennox.
'Fearfully so. Think of the way you are bringing up your girls.'
'What is the matter with my lasses? I think them the bonniest and the best in the world.'
'Poor misguided man! They are nothing of the sort.'
'If you have come here, Agnes, to abuse Lucy's children, and mine, I would rather we dropped the subject. They have nothing to do with you. You have never until the present moment taken the slightest notice of them. They give me intense happiness. I think, perhaps, Agnes, seeing that we differ and have always differed in every particular, it might be as well for you to shorten your visit to The Garden.'
'Thank you. That is the sort of speech a child reared by you has already made to me. She has, in fact, impertinent little thing, already asked me when I am going.'