“No, it is not. Still, Miss Mathews, when it is considered that this man had abjured, I may say, had almost despised women, it is no small triumph to you, or homage from him, that you have made him feel the power of your sex.”
“It is his just punishment for having despised us.”
“Perhaps so; yet if we were all punished for our misdeeds, as Shakespeare says, who should escape whipping?”
“Pray, Master Tinker, where did you learn to quote Shakespeare?”
“Where I learnt much more. I was not always a travelling tinker.”
“So I presumed before this. And pray how came you to be one?”
“Miss Mathews, if the truth must be told, it arose from an unfortunate attachment.”
“I have read in the olden poets that love would turn a god into a man; but I never heard of its making him a tinker,” replied Melissa, smiling.
“The immortal Jove did not hesitate to conceal his thunderbolts when he deigned to love; and Cupid but too often has recourse to the aid of Proteus to secure success. We have, therefore, no mean warranty.”
“And who was the lady of thy love, good Master Tinker?”