“You startled me so, Pardy. How wicked you are! Mr. Carington has been here, and left a note for you.”
“And you settled your small obligations—hey, Rose?”
“I did.”
“Difficult?” He had anticipated her embarrassments.
“No. Not even you could have been nicer about it.”
“And you liked him? We did.”
“Yes—oh, yes,” she said with indifference. “I thought him pleasant. He talks quite well, and is a gentleman.”
“Rather mild praise for a man who—”
“Don’t, please, Pardy; I—I hate to be joked about it.”
“I won’t, dear. To say, in these days of too easy fashions, that a man is a gentleman means, for us at least, a good deal.”