"I did on her."

"I suppose she was tall, then."

"No, she was short."

"Then I don't see how she would wear a Gainsborough hat."

"She did, and looked exquisite in it too."

"I suppose you were very much in love with her?"

"Yes; we were engaged, and going to be married."

"Why was it broken off?"

"Her father was a brute."

"Fathers generally are brutes on such occasions, and there are
generally excellent reasons for their brutality."

"Husbands, too, are brutes, and if all I have heard is correct, there
are excellent reasons for their brutality."

Lady Seveley turned pale. "I did not come to the theatre to be
insulted," she said, hesitating whether she should rise from her seat.
Frank Escott was constantly guilty of such indelicate and stupid
speeches, and it would be easy to cite instances in which his conduct
was equally unpractical. Were friends to speak ill of any one he was
especially intimate with, he would answer them in the grossest manner,