"What sapling?"
"Why, that darling little stage fairy, of course, who kindled you to such enthusiasm."
So it turned up again now! Even here they cast it in my teeth! Was it not enough to have smarted once in my life for pretty Lilla's sake? In vain did I assure her that never in my life had I seen the young artiste except on the stage; that there indeed she had earned my admiration, but that I had never felt any tender sentiment either for her or for any other mortal maiden in the whole of Buda-Pest.
"Let that go, then!" said Bessy mockingly. "We are well informed of everything that goes on. How about your landlord's three pretty daughters?"
"Pardon me, but the eldest of them is only nine years old."
"And your gay neighbours, the flower-garden ladies?"
Well, this was simply appalling. How could I tell her the whole story? And yet I was the very person who had got them removed.
"Whom the Town Captain was forced to interfere with? Oh, we know all about it! My little finger has whispered it to me."
I was quite confused. Who could have been tittle-tattling about me so?
And all the time her eyes were flashing sparks at me!