“I will stand wilfully in the middle of the room, madam, and be caught.”
“Then you will have to give me three pairs of gloves. But you are too large, my lord; we should always be catching you.”
“Like a leviathan in a fish-pond, eh?”
“Or an elephant in a parlor. Bind my eyes up, Hortense, and please pin up my skirts.”
The Mancini humored her.
“Are you ready, Tom?”
“At your command,” said the youth, whom a friend had blindfolded.
“Turn me, Hortense; one, two, three. Now—have at all of you. If I catch you—Tom—cry carrots.”
My lord and Hortense stepped back toward the window to watch the fun.
“It is just like the marriage market,” said she.