"Have I done amiss to give Apollo wings to his feet?"
"Why, indeed, Madam,'tis Mercury carries the wings. In another lady's
presence I had said 'tis Cupid, but from some ladies love cannot fly."
So it began. In a moment more she had bid him be seated, and tell her
stories that a lady might paint with her needle. And presently her hands
dropt in her lap, and her eyes fixed on his face, and 't was not long ere
I was dismist.
That evening he came into Dingley's room, where I sat with her to repair
the household linen, and rattled on, full of wit and good humour; and when
Dingley went out to fetch a cordial for him, he says:--
"Well, Mistress Stella, did we give the lying slut her lesson today--did
we? Sure,'twas a pure bite!"