"
"I beg your pardon, I was not mortified at all; I liked it, and I do not
care who saw her," Neil said, rousing up in defense of Bessie, and lying
easily and fluently, for Blanche's cruel remarks made him very angry.
"Oh, you did like it, then? Your face told a different story," Blanche
retorted; while Lady Jane, forgetting her dignity, commenced a tirade
against both Bessie and her mother, the latter of whom she cordially
despised. Of the girl she knew nothing, she said, but it was fair to
suppose she was like her mother, and she did not blame Blanche for
feeling shocked at such unmaidenly advances in public to a young man.
Had Neil been a few years younger he would have called his mother a
fool, as he had done more than once in his boyhood; but he could not do
that now, and turning to Jack, who had been quietly eating his dinner,
he said:
"Jack, what did you think of Bessie? Is she a bold hussy, and ought
Blanche to smash her red parasol because Bessie's eyes have rested upon
it?"
Thus appealed to, Jack looked up, with an amused smile on his face, and
said:
"I don't quite believe Bessie's eyes did rest on Blanche's parasol.
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