“Dear me, do you think so?” replied Miss Lavinia, in the most affected tone: “Mr. Frederick seldom asks my opinion, I think.”
“He is but a boy, and you will excuse [[134]]him, I’m sure; but really this dress must be left to you.”
“Certainly,” replied Lavinia, “he must have something different from that he now wears, which is only fit for the stable.”
“And a very good place too, I think,” remarked the polite young gentleman, as he threw himself at his length on a sofa, rousing by the action a little white terrier, which had been reposing quietly upon it. The dog uttered a cry, and jumped on the floor.
“Poor Erminet cannot be quiet even here,” said Mrs. Penryn, angrily: “I wish, Fred, you would look before you lie down: I dare say you have lamed my pretty Erminet.”
“I dare say I have done no such thing,” retorted the respectful nephew: “But I have no desire to stay, I assure you. I am sure, though Lavinia talks of the stable, I had rather be there, than shut up in this hot room. So make haste and determine about the boy’s dress, for I cannot stay shilly-shally here all day.”
“I wonder when you will learn to be civil,” [[135]]said Mrs. Penryn: “I think, if you had had a few lessons of politeness interspersed with Greek and Latin, it would have made you more agreeable.” “That is all you women know of the matter. But let me have no preaching. Have you done with me?”
“Why, Fred, how provoking you are: did you not bid me send for the boy? And now he is come, you want to go without settling any thing about him. Remember, he is your property, and you must do what you please about him. I shall trouble myself no more about him.”
“Very well, then leave it alone,” said the young barbarian; and striding past the trembling Samboe, he quitted the room, shutting the door with violence after him.
“What a pity it is,” said Mrs. Penryn, after a short pause, “that Frederick is so hasty: such a good-hearted lad as he is. I wish, Lavinia, you would undertake to soften down his manners: he is really worth your trouble, my dear girl.”