"Would you say good-looking?" asked the cook. Tucker had been putting exactly the same question to himself.
But the speaker did not intend to answer it, he went on with his own train of thought: "And here you go into raptures over an old fellow, old enough to be your father—"
"Should you say I went into raptures?"
"You talk as if you were prepared to make an idol of the man."
A pleasant laugh greeted this statement. Tucker grew grave. He did not feel that he thoroughly understood the cause of that laugh, but he took refuge in that comfortable and all-embracing theory that women were fond, unaccountable creatures, particularly when deeply moved.
Another explanation was offered by the man below.
"I believe you are just trying to tease me, Jane-Ellen."
"Trying, Ranny?"
"You know very well you can always do whatever you like with me." The voice deepened with emotion.
"Oh, dear me, no, I can't."