“Papa told me,” Peter replied, “but it’s your own fault for being so ridiculously pretty!”
Hermia laughed.
“Are you paying me a compliment?”
“Of course I am!” Peter replied. “If you were dressed decently and allowed to go to London for a Season, you would be the toast of St. James’s and I would be very proud of you!”
He was not only thinking of her, Hermia knew, but, knowing that his richer friends and especially his cousin William, condescended to him and made it quite clear that he was ‘the poor man at their gates!’.
Then because Peter was very like their father he said suddenly,
“To Hell with it! Why should I care? I intend to get the best out of life and mark my words, Hermia, by hook or by crook, sooner or later I will have everything I want!”
“I believe you,” Hermia replied, “
