Come,
Percy _dear_;" and so she marched off; but she had not gone many steps
before, having a great respect for old age, she ordered Percy, in a
whisper, to make some apology to her uncle.
Percy did not much like the commission. However, he went back, and said,
very civilly, "This is a free country, but I am afraid I have been a
little too free in expressing my opinion; let me hope you are not
annoyed with me."
"I am never annoyed with a fool," said the implacable Colonel.
This was too much for any little man to stand.
"That is why you are always on such good terms with yourself," said
Percy, as red as a turkey-cock.
The Colonel literally stared with amazement. Hitherto it had been for him
to deliver bayonet thrusts, not to receive them.
Julia pounced on her bantam-cock, and with her left hand literally pulled
him off the premises, and shook her right fist at him till she got him
out of sight of the foe; then she kissed him on both cheeks, and burst
out laughing; and, indeed, she was so tickled that she kept laughing at
intervals, whether the immediate subject of the conversation was grave or
gay.
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