"Ungallant! Why? I suppose you know it's a settled thing that none of US talk to girls in society. Most of them are so milk-and-water, and the rest are so deep, they're always fancying a man means something. Why, last spring we cut Lord Adolphus Fitz Flummery, of OURS, just because he made a fool of himself, dangling after the girls."
"But don't gentlemen ever speak to an unmarried lady in England?"
"The saps do—but not your knowing ones. We make an exception though, in favour of a regular beauty, such as that little girl on the other side of the room; that Thomson girl, didn't you call her?"
"Miss Graham—you are difficult to please if nothing else will suit you. But of course it is natural for aristocratic minds to be fastidious."
"To be sure it is, that's what makes us English aristocrats so exclusive. If that little Graham girl comes in our way though, I've no objection to making her acquaintance. And if you have got a great fortune here to-night, I'll make an exception for her—you may introduce me. Is there such a thing as an heiress in the room?"
"An heiress? No, I believe not—but Miss Taylor is quite a fortune."
"Is she? Well then, you may introduce me there too. We have to do the civil to the rich girls, you know; because after a while most of us are driven into matrimony. That's the governor, I take it, near the door."
"The governor? Oh, no, our governor does not live at Longbridge."
"Doesn't he? Well, I thought you introduced him just now as the governor, and I fancied some one called him 'Ubbard; that's the governor's name, isn't it?"
"No, indeed. That's Pa you are speaking of."