"What has he been saying to you, Nina?" the girl asked, taking hold of her friend's dress, to prevent her escape into the street. "You need not be in a hurry for a minute. He will not come down."
"I am not afraid of him. Ruth."
"I am, then. But perhaps he is not cross to you."
"Why should he be cross to me?"
"I know why, Nina, but I will not say. Uncle Anton has been out all the day, and was not home to dinner. It is much worse when he is away."
"Is Anton ever cross to you, Ruth?"
"Indeed he is — sometimes. He scolds much more than grandfather. But he is younger, you know."
"Yes; he is younger, certainly."
"Not but what he is very old, too; much too old for you, Nina. When I have a lover I will never have an old man."
"But Anton is not old."