"_Now_, but not _then_. I cannot bear people to keep their minds bottled up for the sake of letting them off with a pop. They seem to grudge making you happy unless they can make you miserable beforehand. However, I forgive him everything," said Mab, with a magnanimous air, "but he has invited me. I wonder why he fixed on me as the musical one? Was it because I have a bulging forehead, ma, and peep from under it like a newt from under a stone?"
"It was your way of listening to the singing, child," said Mrs. Meyrick. "He has magic spectacles and sees everything through them, depend upon it. But what was that German quotation you were so ready with, Mirah--you learned puss?"

However, I forgive him everything, now he has invited me. I wonder why he fixed on me as the musical one?"
"It was your way of listening, child," said Mrs. Meyrick. "But what was that German quotation you were so ready with, Mirah - you learned puss?"
