"And Nannie Dunn is the sort of girl one don't come across often." said Mrs. Mason. "She's the best-trained I ever saw. And the best-behaved. And the prettiest. And the neatest-dressed. I'm sure now, to hear Miss Wilmot talk of her! And as for that poor thing, Bess Gardiner—why, she's a different creature altogether. I do believe there's nothing on earth she wouldn't do, if Nannie bid her. Mrs. Gardiner can't make her out. There's a lot done among girls by a good example. And I always do say Archie 'll have a pretty little wife, and a good one too, some day."
Mrs. Stuart wheeled round upon Mrs. Mason, snorting contemptuously.
"My Archie's not a-going to marry Nancy Dunn," she declared, her nostrils quivering with anger.
"Why now, you don't say so! And everybody counting it a settled thing," said Mrs. Mason.
"Everybody's got no business. It's not a settled thing. It's never a-going to be a settled thing," said Mrs. Stuart.
"Just suited for one another too," said Mrs. Mason.
"My Archie's in the trade," said Mrs. Stuart majestically; "and his father was in the trade afore him, and his father afore him. And Dunn's a labourer. Archie's not a-going to marry yet. And when he does, he'll marry somebody of his own proper standing. And that's all I've got to say about it."
"Pity! Ain't it?" said Mrs. Mason. "And Dunn pretty near as well able to handle the tools as any man in the trade, if it wasn't for trade restrictions; and better read by a long way than any other man at the works. And you don't count Nannie good enough for your Archie! Dear me, now! I shouldn't have thought it."
"It don't matter who thinks, nor who don't," said Mrs. Stuart, impatiently pouring water from the kettle into the teapot. "I've my own mind in the matter."
"But, Mrs. Stuart, Archie has his mind too," her visitor said. "And he's getting to be a man fast. And I suppose a man has a right to his mind, as well as a woman."