And you
ain't that sort, so we'll go on together until I feels like leaving
you, an' then I'll go--"
"Go where, Diana?"
"Back to the lonely places--"
"What do you mean?"
"Nothing!" she answered, shaking her head. "You wouldn't never
understand. But I'll go along wi' you to Tonbridge."
"Very well!" said I. "And on the way, if you'll allow me, I'll teach
you to speak more correctly and to behave with a--a little
more--feminine restraint--"
"Oh--and why should I?" she demanded, cheeks flushed and proud head
aloft.
"Because," I answered, struck anew by her beauty, "though you look
like a goddess you speak and act like a--like--"
"A what? And--be careful!" she warned.
"I don't know."
"Come, speak out!"
"Indeed, I can think of no just parallel; you are like no one I ever
saw or heard. But your speech and actions often do not match your
looks."
"And your looks don't match your words or actions!" she retorted, "you
speak s' very grand and look s' very--s' very--"
"What?" I questioned anxiously.
"I don't know. 'T isn't a scarecrow--scarecrow's clothes fits
better--but you looks an' acts like nobody as ever I see afore."
"At the very first opportunity I will certainly purchase better
garments!" quoth I, scowling down at the noxious things that covered
me.
"With no money?" she scoffed.
"I have my watch!" quoth I.
"They'll think as you prigs it and hand you over to the narks an'
queer cuffins--"
"That sounds very terrible; what do you mean?"
"I means the _plastramengroes_.
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