When Gammon and Polly met they talked no longer of Lord Polperro or Uncle Clover, but of words.
"I've got it this time, Polly! I swear I've got it! 'Undeserved misfortune is often a—to the noble mind.' Why, it's stimulus, of course!"
"I never heard the word," declared Polly. "I'm sending in stroke."
"Stroke? What do you mean by that?"
"What do I mean by it? Why, what they want to say is, that 'Undeserved misfortune is often a blow to the noble mind,' don't they? But blow can't be the word, 'cause everybody'd get it. The dictionary gives stroke for blow, and I'm sure that's it."
"Rot! they don't mean to say that at all! It ain't a blow to the noble mind, it's just the opposite; that's what they mean."
"How can it be the opposyte?" shrilled Polly. "Ain't it a knock-down if you get what you don't deserve?"
"I tell you they don't mean that. Can't you understand? Why, it's as plain as the nose on your face."
"Is it?" retorted Polly with indignation. "If I've got a plain nose, why didn't you tell me so before? If that's your way of talking to a lady—"
"Don't be a fool, Polly! It's a saying, ain't it?"