"But I dislike arguments, they put my hair out of curl and we have so many trials to bear already."
"They need never be used, but they can exist, madam, they can exist in calf on a bottom shelf, and they could be dusted sometimes," declared the Justice. Then in softer accents he began to plead:
"Think, my dear Mrs. Courteen, of Mrs. Moon. Mrs. Moon! I often murmur that short sentence over to myself."
"Do you, Mr. Moon? When?" said the widow, who seemed touched by his devotion.
"Oh! after dinner—or getting into bed, or—" but the third occasion was never revealed, for Major Tarry charged round the corner and carried off the dear questioner to adorn a gavotte.
Somehow the hedges no longer seemed so mysterious and the night not quite so large.
"Gad! what follies!" laughed Charles.
"D'ye know who the lady was?" inquired the other.
"Venus grown fat by the sound of her voice."
"That was Mrs. Courteen."