"I see; go on."
Mr Coventry had stopped. He seemed to be a little at a loss.
"Then, somehow or other, I--I got introduced to her."
"Did you, indeed? How strange!"
"Don't laugh at me, Miss Hardy. The woman's my aversion. She's old enough to be my mother, or--or my aunt, at any rate."
"One's aunt may be younger than oneself."
"She isn't, by a deal. She's a hideous, vulgar old monstrosity."
"You appear to have a strong objection to the lady."
"I have. It--it sounds absurd, but she's always after me. She must mistake me for her son."
"For her son? You look twenty-five, and I thought I saw in one of the papers the other day that Mrs Murphy was in her early thirties."