"My aunt lives in a flat," she answered.
"Suppose she does? What difference can that make?"
"It makes this difference: Your sister couldn't conceal the air of a patron, and I couldn't hide my resentment; therefore," she added with a smile that brought back all her brightness, "to be friends we must remain strangers."
"But suppose I should call on you; would you regard it as a patronage?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because you are a man."
"You women are peculiar creatures."
"An old idea always patly expressed," she replied.
"But isn't it true?"