"What did you ask me for then?"
"Because I supposed you had found another meaning for it."
"To what do you allude, you troublesome fellow, you? I'll not bear your insults much longer."
"For what did you punish me so severely just now?"
"For disobeying my orders."
"What did you order me to do?"
"To be here in a minute."
"Well, did not I do what you told me?"
"No; you kept your seat, and did not come near me."
"Well, I thought and did just what you now tell me; that to be is a neuter verb, expressing no action, but being. I had a state of being, and promised to keep it, and did keep it, and you punished me for doing the very thing you told me to do!!"