"Looky here, son," he pleaded. "It's not as though I'm goin' to hurt her, is it? I'm not goin' to_hurt the old sea-lion. Just one little nip and bob's-your uncle."
"H.M., don't think I disapprove of this. I'd give a year's income to do it! But one little nip and I may lose the girl."
"What girl?"
"Two hundred poundst Do I hear more than two hundred pounds?"
"The girl I told you about! There! She's Lady Brayle's granddaughter!"
"Oh, my son! You stick Sophie in the tail and this gal's goin' to adore you."
"No!"
Faintly the hammer tapped. "Lord Ambleside, for two hundred pounds."
"Sold!" cried Lady Brayle, in the midst of that shuffling and mist of murmurs which greet the tap of the hammer. "Did you hear that, Jennifer? And to our good friend Lord Ambleside too! Here's three che-ah-s!"
Playfully Lady Brayle threw up her arm like an opera star. She took two swinging steps backwards. And she landed full and true against the point of the shaft gripped by Martin and Sir Henry Merrivale.