"Certainly."
"Are you fond of flowers and the like?"
"Very fond of them."
"So am I; our tastes agree. Here we are, hey?"
Charles came out when he saw us coming over the bridge, and Bill pulled up the horses scientifically, giving him a coachman's salute. "You see I am quite a whip."
"You are," said Charles.
"What a cub!" he whispered me. "I think I'll give up my horses and take to walking as you have."
On the way home Bill held the reins in one hand and attempted to take mine with the other, a proceeding which I checked, whereupon he was exceedingly confused. The whip fell from his clutch over the dasher, and in recovering it his hat fell off; shame kept him silent for the rest of the ride.
I begged Alice to propose no more rides with Cousin Bill. That night he composed a letter which he sent me by Charlotte early the next morning.
"Why, Charlotte, what nonsense is this?"