Then Aunt Charlotte got extremely angry, and a great wrangle ensued, in the course of which she said he was a foolish, ignorant boy, who talked nonsense for the sake of talking it.
Austin replied by asking if she knew what a quincunx was, or what Virgil was really driving at when he composed the First Eclogue, and whether she had ever heard of Lycidas; and when she said that she had something better to do than stuff her head with quidnunxes and all such pagan rubbish, he remarked very politely that ignorance was evidently not all of the same sort.

Which sent Aunt Charlotte bustling away in a huff to look after her household duties.
"It's all very sad and very ugly, isn't it, Gioconda ?" sighed Austin, as he lifted the large, white, fluffy animal upon his lap.

"You're a great philosopher, my dear; I wish I were as wise as you.

You're so scornful, so dignified, so divinely egoistic.

But you don't mind being worshipped, do you, Gioconda?
Because you know it's your right, of course.