"Ah, you may well ask that. If you could know what questions I have asked myself on that head! I sometimes say things to myself as though they were the most proper and reasonable things in the world, and then within an hour or two I hate myself for having thought of them."
"But why don't you answer me? Who is going abroad with you?"
"Well; you are to be one of the party."
"I!"
"Yes; you. When I have named so very respectable a chaperon for my youth, of course you will understand that my husband is to take us."
"But Mr. Palliser can't leave London at this time of the year?"

"Ah, you may well ask. If you could know what questions I have asked myself on that head! But you are to be one of the party."
"I!"
"Yes; you. So of course you will understand that my husband is to take us."
"But Mr. Palliser can't leave London at this time of the year!"
