"Well, I shall put my money on the lame one," said Uncle Paul.
"But why should she marry either?" I asked. "She does not strike me as so inevitably a marrying girl."
"Geographical conditions largely," said Uncle Paul. "There they all are, so absolutely on the spot."
"I should have thought they would be jealous," I said.
"I've no doubt they are," said Uncle Paul, who seemed to me to know far too much for a stammering recluse given to Round Pond navigation. "And if one of them is not accepted, or both aren't refused, pretty soon, 'The Booklovers' Rest' will dissolve partnership."
"As bad as that?" I remarked.
"I think so," he said. "It's astonishing what a disturbing element in the lives of two young men one young woman can be."
"Yes," I said, "and it's more astonishing when it's such a sensible girl as Ben, who would not be bothered to make mischief with anyone, but merely wants to go her own way and be busy. But what does Nature care about 'The Becks and Calls'? Nature has only two ideas in her obstinate old head. One is that people should fall in love and become parents, and the other that they should grow old."