Page:Anthony Hope - The Dolly Dialogues.djvu/14

 'I didn't. I declare I didn't.'

'Oh, well, you didn't then. It only looked like it.'

'I met him,' said Miss Dolly, 'three years ago. At that time he was—oh, quite unpresentable. He was everything he shouldn't be. He was a teetotaler, you know, and he didn't smoke, and he was always going to concerts. Oh, and he wore his hair long, and his trousers short, and his hat on the back of his head. And his umbrella'

'Where did he wear that?'

'He carried that, Mr. Carter. Don't be silly! Carried it unrolled, you know, and generally a paper parcel in the other hand; and he had spectacles, too.'

'He has certainly changed outwardly at least.'

'Yes, I know; well, I did that. I took him in hand, and I just taught him, and now!'

'Yes, I know that. But how did you teach him? Give him Saturday evening lectures, or what?'

'Oh, every-evening lectures, and most-morning walks. And I taught him to dance, and I broke his wretched fiddle with my own hands!'

'What very arbitrary distinctions you draw.'

'I don't know what you mean. I do like a man to be smart, anyhow. Don't you, Mr. Carter? You're not so smart as you might be. Now, shall I take you in hand?' And she smiled upon me.

'Let's hear your method. What did you do to him?'