"And how does the affair please you? So romantic! It calls forth superb feelings, and one thereby escapes the almond-cake and the unseasoned jokes of the comic actor."
But Laura pressed up to her father, and looked imploringly at him, till Mr. Hummel said:
"So it has been a cure? Then I will joyfully pay the bill of the Dragon."
They walked out of the door together.
"How did she behave on the way?" he asked the Doctor, confidentially.
"She was charming," he exclaimed, pressing the arm of the father, "but in an anxious state of mind; I was sent up on the coach-box four times that repentance overcame her."
"What, and did you climb up?" asked Mr. Hummel, indignantly.
"It gave me pleasure to see that she was so deeply affected by the unusual nature of the journey."
"'It gives me pleasure that my poodle should go into the water,' said the flea, and was drowned," returned Mr. Hummel, mockingly. "Why did you not look calmly on the anxiety of my child? It would have saved you many a bond if you had been firm with her the first day."
"But she was not yet my wife," said the Doctor.