“Do you venture to confess that you desired to disoblige me, sir?”
“Well, no, madam, I was seeking to oblige myself.”
“Then you desired I should not see that part of the book? I vow, sir, your assurance is prodigious! Pray, who bid you direct my reading?”
“Indeed, dear madam, I would not presume so far.”
“You have presumed too far already, sir. No, pray leave me alone. I don’t desire your company.”
“Ah, madam, if you knew how that majestic air recalls my Araminta to me!”
I started as if I had been stung. Araminta had been forgotten, but now I recollected my determination. If I persisted in banishing the Lieutenant, he would questionless (these men have so horridly high a conceit of themselves) have imagined that I was moved by pique owing to the announcement of the night before.
“Have you anything to urge in your defence, sir?”
“Nothing, madam. It was the impulse of a mad moment, and I acted upon it. I throw myself upon the mercy of the court.”
“Do you desire to offer any promise of amendment, sir?”