Leveridge turned aside: "Well, Poppy!"
"Right you are."
Leveridge waved his hand. Instantly all the inertia passed away from the girl, she stood erect and firm. A merry twinkle kindled in her eye, a flush was on her cheek, and mischievous devilry played about her lips.
"I feel," said she, "as another person."
"Oh! I am so glad, Miss Vincent."
"That is a pretty speech to make to a lady! Glad I am different from what I was before."
"I did not mean that—I meant—in fact, I meant that as you were and as you are you are always charming."
"Thank you, sir!" said Asphodel, curtsying and laughing.
"Ah! Miss Vincent, at all times you have seemed to me the ideal of womanhood. I have worshipped the very ground you have trod upon."
"Fiddlesticks."