I have kept my place myself, and I think we are a much better school than the others.

Trust me, Clifford, and I will prove that to you," the Baroness continued, while she made the agreeable reflection that she could not, at least, be accused of perverting her young kinsman.

"So if you ever fall among thieves don't go about saying I sent you to them." Clifford thought it so comical that he should know--in spite of her figurative language--what she meant, and that she should mean what he knew, that he could hardly help laughing a little, although he tried hard.

"Oh, no! oh, no!" he murmured.
"Laugh out, laugh out, if I amuse you!" cried the Baroness.

"I am here for that!" And Clifford thought her a very amusing person indeed.
"But remember," she said on this occasion, "that you are coming--next year--to pay me a visit over there." About a week afterwards she said to him, point-blank, "Are you seriously making love to your little cousin ?" "Seriously making love"-- these words, on Madame Munster's lips, had to Clifford's sense a portentous and embarrassing sound; he hesitated about assenting, lest he should commit himself to more than he understood.
"Well, I should n't say it if I was!" he exclaimed.
"Why would n't you say it ?" the Baroness demanded.