d so much
attention to.

_Harry._ I paid no more attention to Miss Smithson than was absolutely
necessary. Did I, Mr. Barron?

_Dolly._ Oh! Oh! Dad, you remember----

_Matt._ Not for the moment----

_Dolly._ Not the disgraceful way Harry--there's no other word--carried
on!

_Harry._ I did not carry on--Mr. Barron, I appeal to you.

_Dolly._ Dad!

_Matt._ My dear, I certainly did not notice----

_Dolly._ No, he was far too careful to let anyone notice it, except his
own wife!

_Harry._ You lay your life when I do carry on my wife will be the last
person I shall allow to notice it!

_Dolly._ I daresay! Dad, did you hear that?

_Matt._ Yes. [_Rousing himself a little._] Now, Harry, what about this
Miss Smithson?

_Harry._ That's what I want to know!

_Matt._ Who is Miss Smithson?

_Dolly._ Surely you remember that lanky girl----

_Harry._ Miss Smithson is not lanky----

_Dolly._ Not lanky? Not lanky?! You can't have any eyes----!

_Harry._ That's what I've often thought----

_Dolly._ [_Explodes._] Oh! Oh! Dad!

_Matt._ Come, Harry, let's clear this up. [_Suddenly._] Smithson? Oh
yes! The girl who sat on your left at your dinner party----

_Dolly._ That's the one!

_Matt._ I should call her a trifle lanky, Harry.

_Dolly._ A trifle? Well, never mind! You remember that dinner party----

_Matt._ [_Cautiously._] Ye-es.

_Dolly._ You remember how she waited for a lull in the talk, and then
she said with that silly, simpering, appealing look----

_Harry._ Miss Smithson's look is not silly or simpering.

_Dolly._ Well, it's appealing, isn't it?

_Harry._ [_With a little chuckle._] Oh, yes, it's appealing.

_Dolly._ [_Enraged._] Oh! Dad!

_Matt._ [_Quiets her._] Shush!--What did she say?

_Dolly._ She said with a very marked glance at me, "My dress allowance
is a hundred and twenty a year, and I don't understand how any
reasonable woman can wish for more!" What do you think of that?

_Matt._ Well, if she did say that, and if she glanced at you, it----

_Dolly._ Yes?

_Matt._ It wasn't very nice of her.

_Dolly._ Nice? It was an insult! A direct, intentional, abominable
insult, wasn't it?

_Matt._ Yes, yes, decidedly, under the circumstances----

_Dolly._ And Harry ought to have resented it?

_Matt._ At his own dinner table he couldn't, could he?

_Dolly._ Yes! At least, if he couldn't resent it, he ought to have
_shown_ that he resented it. Instead of that, he actually asked her t