Of course she was joking, but----" "The vulgar, disgusting brute!" cried Austin, in sudden anger.

"And these are the creatures you torment me to associate with.

Well----" "Austin, you've no right to call a young lady a brute; it's abominably rude of you," said Aunt Charlotte severely.

"There was nothing vulgar in what she said; it was just a playful sally, such as any sprightly girl might indulge in.

I assured her you were going to meet nobody but Mr St Aubyn himself, and then she said it was a shame that you should have been inveigled away to be bored by----" "I don't want to hear what the woman said," interrupted Austin, with a gesture of contempt.