"I'll never forgive you!" "A joke's a joke," said Rufus, still in the tone of a mild instructor.
"A joke!" Her wrath enwrapped her like a flame.

"It was not a joke! It was a coarse--and hateful--trick!" "All right," said Rufus, as one giving up a hopeless task.
"It's not all right!" flashed Columbine.

"You're a bounder, an oaf, a brute! I--I'll never speak to you again, unless--you--you--apologise!" He was still looking down with that vague hint of amusement in his eyes--the look of a man who watches the miniature fury of some tiny creature.
"I'll do anything you like," he said with slow indulgence.

"I didn't know you'd turn nasty, or I wouldn't have done it." "Nasty!" echoed Columbine.

And then her wrath went suddenly into a superb gust of scorn.