Yet the proverb holds
good with the stock-jobber. 'He who has once drunk will drink again.' Of
that fountain there is no satiety.
'Stay and hear the last of the nightingales,' he murmured; 'we are famous
for our nightingales.'
'I wonder you don't order a _fricassee_ of their tongues, like that
loathsome person in Roman history.'
'I hope I shall never resemble any loathsome person. Why can you not
stay?'
'Why, because it is not etiquette, Lady Kirkbank says.'
'Lady Kirkbank, eh? _la belle farce_, Lady Kirkbank standing out for
etiquette.'
'Don't laugh at my chaperon, sir. Upon what rock can a poor girl lean if
you undermine her faith in her chaperon, sir.'
'I hope you will have a better guardian before you are a month older. I
mean to be a very strong rock, Lesbia. You do not know how firmly I
shall stand between you and all the perils of society. You have been but
poorly guarded hitherto.'
'You talk as if you mean to be an abominable tyrant,' said Lesbia. 'If
you don't take care I shall change my mind, and recall my promise.
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