“‘Dear ma, how tired you look.’
“‘I am not tired, dear.’
“‘Well, you don’t look well; is anything the matter with you?’
“‘I didn’t say I wasn’t well, and it’s very rude to remark on one’s looks that way.’
“‘Something seems to have put you out of sorts, ma, I will run and call pa. Dear me, I feel frightened. Shall I ask Mrs Bawdon for her salts?’
“‘You know very well what’s the matter; it’s Captain De la Cour.’
“‘Well, now, how strange,’ said Sarah Matilda. ‘I told him he had better go and walk with you; I wanted him to do it; I told him you liked attention. Yes, I knew you would be angry, but it isn’t my fault. It ain’t, indeed.’
“‘Well, I am astonished,’ replies the horrified mother. ‘I never in all my life. So you told him I liked attention. I, your mother, your father’s wife, with my position in societee; and pray what answer did he make to this strange conduct?’
“‘He said, No wonder, you were the handsomest woman in town, and so agreeable; the only one fit to talk to.’
“‘And you have the face to admit you listened to such stuff?’