‘Miss Grayling.’
‘Are you cross with me?’
‘Why should I be? If it pleases you to laugh at my stupidity you are completely justified.’
‘But you are not stupid.’
‘No?—Nor you satirical.’
‘You are not stupid,—you know you are not stupid; it was only stupidity on my part to pretend that you were.’
‘It is very good of you to say so.—But I fear that I am an indifferent host. Although you would not care for an illustration, there may be other things which you might find amusing.’
‘Why do you keep on snubbing me?’
‘I keep on snubbing you!’
‘You are always snubbing me,—you know you are. Some times I feel as if I hated you.’