As soon as the old lady had finished her relation, Somerset made haste to offer her his compliments.
‘Madam,’ said he,
‘your story is not only entertaining but instructive; and you have told it with infinite vivacity. I was much affected towards the end, as I held at one time very liberal opinions, and should certainly have joined a secret society if I had been able to find one. But the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able to feel for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of somewhat hasty temper.’
‘I do not understand you,’ said Mrs. Luxmore, with some marks of irritation.
‘You must have strangely misinterpreted what I have told you. You fill me with surprise.’
Somerset, alarmed by the old lady’s change of tone and manner, hurried to recant.
‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he,
‘you certainly misconstrue my remark. As a man of somewhat fiery humour, my conscience repeatedly pricked me when I heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons similarly constituted.’
‘Oh, very well indeed,’ replied the old lady;
‘and a very proper spirit. I regret that I have met with it so rarely.’
‘But in all this,’ resumed the young man,
‘I perceive nothing that concerns myself.’
‘I am about to come to that,’ she returned.
‘Madam,’ said he,
‘your story is not only entertaining but instructive; and you have told it with infinite vivacity. I was much affected towards the end, as I held at one time very liberal opinions, and should certainly have joined a secret society if I had been able to find one. But the whole tale came home to me; and I was the better able to feel for you in your various perplexities, as I am myself of somewhat hasty temper.’
‘I do not understand you,’ said Mrs. Luxmore, with some marks of irritation.
‘You must have strangely misinterpreted what I have told you. You fill me with surprise.’
Somerset, alarmed by the old lady’s change of tone and manner, hurried to recant.
‘Dear Mrs. Luxmore,’ said he,
‘you certainly misconstrue my remark. As a man of somewhat fiery humour, my conscience repeatedly pricked me when I heard what you had suffered at the hands of persons similarly constituted.’
‘Oh, very well indeed,’ replied the old lady;
‘and a very proper spirit. I regret that I have met with it so rarely.’
‘But in all this,’ resumed the young man,
‘I perceive nothing that concerns myself.’
‘I am about to come to that,’ she returned.
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