"Take care, then: if you don't please me, I will shame you by showing how such things should be done."

     "That is offering a premium on incapacity: I shall now endeavour to fail."

     "Gardez-vous en bien! If you err wilfully, I shall devise a proportionate punishment."

     "Miss Ingram ought to be clement, for she has it in her power to inflict a chastisement beyond mortal endurance."

     "Ha! explain!" commanded the lady.

     "Pardon me, madam: no need of explanation; your own fine sense must inform you that one of your frowns would be a sufficient substitute for capital punishment."

     "Sing!" said she, and again touching the piano, she commenced an accompaniment in spirited style.