Yes--you may laugh, Madam, how you please; but he's allowed, I
say, to be as honest, as true, as fine a gentleman as--as--'
'As ever surprised a weaver,' said the young lady, laughing till she
almost cried. In fact, she was showing in a new light, and becoming
quite a funny character upon this theme. And, indeed, this sort of
convulsion of laughing seemed so unaccountable on natural grounds to
Aunt Rebecca, that her irritation subsided into perplexity, and she
began to suspect that her extravagant merriment might mean possibly
something which she did not quite understand.
'Well, niece, when you have quite done laughing at nothing, you will,
perhaps, be so good as to hear me. I put it to you now, young lady, as
your relation and your friend, once for all, upon your sacred
honour--remember you're a Chattesworth--upon the honour of a
Chattesworth' (a favourite family form of adjuration on serious
occasions with Aunt Rebecca), 'do you like Lieutenant Puddock?'
It was now Miss Gertrude's turn to be nettled, and to remind her
visitor, by a sudden flush in her cheek and a flash from her eyes, that
she was, indeed, a Chattesworth; and with more disdain than, perhaps,
was quite called for, she repelled the soft suspicion.
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