"What is still more amazing is that he does not hold us to ransom,"
said she at last.
"It's what you deserve."
"Oh, and why, if you please?"
"For speaking to him as you did."
"I usually call things by their names."
"Do you? Stab me! I shouldn't boast of it. It argues either
extreme youth or extreme foolishness." His lordship, you see,
belonged to my Lord Sunderland's school of philosophy. He added
after a moment: "So does the display of ingratitude."
A faint colour stirred in her cheeks. "Your lordship is evidently
aggrieved with me. I am disconsolate. I hope your lordship's
grievance is sounder than your views of life. It is news to me that
ingratitude is a fault only to be found in the young and the foolish."
"I didn't say so, ma'am." There was a tartness in his tone evoked
by the tartness she had used. "If you would do me the honour to
listen, you would not misapprehend me. For if unlike you I do not
always say precisely what I think, at least I say precisely what I
wish to convey. To be ungrateful may be human; but to display it
is childish.
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