“I beg your pardon?” said Lady Julia, beginning to look like an image made of cast iron.
“I imagine that the social whirl finds in your ladyship a willing acolyte?”
“Oh, no. I go out very little.”
“Indeed,” said Madame, with some contempt. “Then you do not frequent the Palace?”
“The Palace! Do you mean the Crystal Palace?”
“Of Buckingham? You are not an amicas curiae?”
“I fear I don’t catch your meaning.”
“Does not your ladyship comprehend the Latin tongue?”
“Certainly not,” said Lady Julia, who was born in an age when it was considered highly improper for a young female to have any dealings with the ancients. “Certainly not.”
“Dear me!” said Madame, with pitying amazement. “You hear her ladyship, Jupiter?”