“But that can’t be, I think,” returned Miss Peecher: “because Mr. Headstone can have no business with her .”
Mary Anne again hailed.
“Well, Mary Anne?”
“If you please, ma’am, perhaps it’s Hexam’s business?”
“That may be,” said Miss Peecher. “I didn’t think of that. Not that it matters at all.”
Mary Anne again hailed.
“Well, Mary Anne?”
“They say she’s very handsome.”
“Oh, Mary Anne, Mary Anne!” returned Miss Peecher, slightly colouring and shaking her head, a little out of humour; “how often have I told you not to use that vague expression, not to speak in that general way? When you say they say, what do you mean? Part of speech They?”
Mary Anne hooked her right arm behind her in her left hand, as being under examination, and replied:
“Personal pronoun.”
“Person, They?”
“Third person.”
“Number, They?”
“Plural number.”
“Then how many do you mean, Mary Anne? Two? Or more?”