“Oh, don't they?”
“No; they would be afraid. If you had a wife, and took up the poker, she would faint away, and die—perhaps!”
“Oh, dear!”
“I should.”
“But, cousin, you would not want the poker taken to you; you never nag.”
“Perhaps that is because we are not married yet.”
“What, then, when we are, shall you turn like the others?”
“Impossible to say.”
“Well, then” (after a moment's hesitation), “I'll marry you all the same.”
“No! you forget; I shall be afraid until your temper mends.”