"I don't see where the boldness comes in," said the widow. She was studying the fire, and spoke inattentively.
"Two hundred pounds!"
"Eh? . . . There's no risk in that. You may say what you like of
Captain Hocken or of Captain Hunken: but they're honest as children.
The money's as safe with them as in the bank."
"Well, it do seem to me a dashin' and yet a very cold-blooded way of choosin' a man. Now, if I was taken with one—"
"Well?" prompted Mrs Bosenna, as Dinah paused.
"Call me weak, but I couldn't help it. I should throw myself straight at his head, an' ask him to trample me under his boots!"
"A nice kind of husband you'd make of him then!" said her mistress scornfully.
"I know, I know," agreed Dinah. "I've no power o' resistance at all, an' I daresay the Almighty has saved me a lifetime o' trouble. 'Twould ha' been desperet pleasant at the time though." She sighed.
"But to give two men a hundred pound each, an' choose the one that manages it best—"
"Worst," corrected Mrs Bosenna. "You ninny!" she went on with sovereign contempt. "Do you really suppose I'd marry a man that could handle my money, or was vain enough to suppose he could?"