“Of course you didn't, Missy. How you talk! You amused us a good deal, and you surprised us, too, a bit; but that was all.”
“Oh! So that was all, was it? So I only surprised you a bit? I suppose you don't happen to know whether it was a big bit, eh?”
But David now decided that the time was come for firmness.
“Listen to me, Missy; I'm not going to have any more to say to you unless you come inside at once!”
“But what if I'm not never coming inside—never no more?”
There was that within the words which made David pause to consider. At length he said: “Very well, then, come into the verandah and we'll have a sensible talk here, and I won't force you into the house; though where else you're to go I don't quite see. However, come here, and I won't insist on your coming a step further.”
“Honour bright?”
“Of course.”
“Hope to die?”
“I don't understand you, Missy; but I meant what I said.”