“Silence, sir; don’t talk about it. It was all a mistake.”
“No, it wasn’t. You began to fish for me, and you caught me. I’ve got the hook in me tight, and I couldn’t get away if I tried. I say, Jenny, please listen to me. I am in earnest, and I’ll try so hard to be all that is square and right. ’Pon my soul I will.”
“Where is your cousin?”
“I don’t know—and don’t want to,” he added.
“Yes you do, you took her away.”
“Well, it’s no use to swear to a thing with a girl; if you won’t believe me when I say I don’t know, you won’t believe me with an oath. What do I want with her? She hated me, and I hated her. There is only one nice girl in the world, and that’s you.”
“Pah!” cried Jenny, who was more flushed than ever. “Look at me.”
“Well, I am looking at you,” he said, smiling, “and it does a fellow good.”
“Can’t you see that I’ve grown thin, and yellow, and ugly?”
“No; and I’ll punch any fellow’s head who says you are.”