But the law (as Sir Patrick had told his niece) has a special temper of its own.

Without exhibiting the smallest irritation, Sir Patrick dextrously applied his sister-in-law's blister to his sister-in-law herself.
"What an eye you have!" he said.

"I was impatient.

I _am_ impatient.

I am dying to know what Blanche said to you when she got better ?" The British Matron froze up into a matron of stone on the spot.
"Nothing!" answered her ladyship, with a vicious snap of her teeth, as if she had tried to bite the word before it escaped her.
"Nothing!" exclaimed Sir Patrick.
"Nothing," repeated Lady Lundie, with her most formidable emphasis of look and tone.