"A pretty modest request upon my word," he indignantly exclaimed as they walked away. "To want to nail me to a card-table for the next two hours with herself and Dr. Grant, who are always quarrelling, and that poking old woman, who knows no more of whist than of algebra. I wish my good aunt would be a little less busy! And to ask me in such a way too! without ceremony, before them all, so as to leave me no possibility of refusing. _That_ is what I dislike most particularly. It raises my spleen more than anything, to have the pretence of being asked, of being given a choice, and at the same time addressed in such a way as to oblige one to do the very thing, whatever it be! If I had not luckily thought of standing up with you I could not have got out of it. It is a great deal too bad. But when my aunt has got a fancy in her head, nothing can stop her."
"Upon my word," he exclaimed as they walked away. "To want to nail me to a card-table for the next two hours with that poking old woman. And to ask me in such a way too! so as to leave me no possibility of refusing! I hate the pretence of being given a choice, and at the same time obliged to do the very thing! If I had not luckily thought of standing up with you I could not have got out of it. But when my aunt has got a fancy in her head, nothing can stop her."