"Ach! you sicken me with your soft talk! I'll call her what she should be called!"
"Will you, though?" said I, lugging off my coat. "Look you here, Jim Horscroft, if you say another word against her, I'll lick it down your throat, if you were as big as Berwick Castle! Try me and see!"
He peeled off his coat down to the elbows, and then he slowly put it on again.
"Don't be such a fool, Jock!" said he. "Four stone and five inches is more than mortal man can give. Two old friends mustn't fall out over such a—well, there, I won't say it. Well, by the Lord, if she hasn't nerve for ten!"
I looked round, and there she was, not twenty yards from us, looking as cool and easy and placid as we were hot and fevered.
"I was nearly home," said she, "when I saw you two boys very busy talking, so I came all the way back to know what it was about."
Horscroft took a run forward and caught her by the wrist. She gave a little squeal at the sight of his face, but he pulled her towards where I was standing.
"Now, Jock, we've had tomfoolery enough," said he. "Here she is. Shall we take her word as to which she likes? She can't trick us now that we're both together."
"I am willing," said I.
"And so am I. If she goes for you, I swear I'll never so much as turn an eye on her again. Will you do as much for me?"