human
I thought my cousin was to be here,
gpt
Ay, Tom asked him, I believe, said Gertrude.
human
Maybe his Lord could not spare him. Do you miss him?
gpt
I would like to have seen him,
human
Tom would not love to hear you say so much, I can tell you, laughed Gertrude.
gpt
He admires you very much, Lettice. Oh, do let us drop the `Mistress'--it is so stiff and sober--I hate it.
human
Me!
gpt
You. Don't you like men to admire you?
human
I don't know; they never did.
gpt
O Lettice, you are good! You have been brought up with all those sober, starched old gentlewomen, till you don't know what life is--why, my dear, you might as well be a nun!
human
Don't I know what life is? said Lettice.
gpt
I've had twenty years of it.
human
You haven't had twenty days of it--not _life_. You've been ruled like a copy-book ever since you were born. I have pitied you, poor little victim, you cannot guess how much! I begged Mother to try and win you for to-day. She said she did not believe Starch and Knitting-Pins would suffer it, but she would try. Wasn't I astonished when I heard you really were to come!
gpt
What do you mean by Starch and Knitting-Pins?
human
Oh, that awful aunt of yours who looks as if she had just come out of the wash, and your sweet-smiling grandmother who is always fiddling with knitting-pins--