“Do you know, Ralph, I just love Father Ferrill!”
“Hold on there! Not too much of that, Ruth!”
“But I do love him very much! He’s so good and wise. Wasn’t it splendid his re-version of Cromwell’s order?”
“Yes, Ruth, it was very apt, but you are not to love him.”
“Hush, Ralph! you ought to be ashamed of yourself.”
But it was honey-moon time and Ralph was not ashamed either of his words or actions on that charmed occasion. He finally admitted, however, after sundry concessions from Ruth that Father Ferrill was a very fine man, and that his re-version of the old Cromwellian adage had given him a new idea on the subject of adages.
“What is it, Ralph?”
“Tell it not to the professional litterateur or the dusty book-worm, Ruth; but the idea is that all those brutal old sayings that have been handed down to us from warring ages need to be revised or done away with as badly as the old brutal customs of which they were born. ‘In times of peace prepare for war,’ is another old serpent.”
“It should be, ‘In times of peace prepare for more peace,’” said Ruth.
“And love,” added Ralph.