“But you didn’t quite mean it! You like them really, or you wouldn’t have asked them to spend Christmas with you!”
“I like them—in moderation. But now the old lady has made up her mind to settle down here, I see that I’m in for too much of a good thing. I shall have to forbid them the house, or they will be in and out like rabbits all day long.”
“You won’t be too rigorous, will you? For the sake of the poor girls?”
“You like the girls, then?”
“I’m sorry for them. One is rather spoilt, the other is rather down-trodden.”
“And the son? He’s been making love to you, hasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“You take it very coolly. Has he asked you to marry him?”
Chris laughed.
“Why, no, Mr. Bradfield. He’s only a boy, and I’ve only known him two days!”