“Ah!” he said eagerly. “You believe in like to like?”
“Well, fancy a turtle married to a hare!”
“But a pair of hares now—?” He seized his opportunity. “You and me, eh?”
“Speak for yourself, Mr.—Bunny!”
“I’m paying you a compliment, Jinny, classing you with me for smartness. There isn’t a girl from Bradmarsh to Chipstone that can hold a candle to you. So that’s why, seeing a man must marry somebody sometime, and looking around as becomes a man who’s getting a bit—a bit——”
“Bald?” prompted Jinny blandly.
“And what does that matter?” he said, too intent now to be fobbed off by raillery. “The point is that with the practice and position I’m getting now, it would be a good lift for you.”
“I thought I was giving you a lift,” said Jinny icily.
“So you were—so you are—in that sense. But I didn’t need even that. My nag wasn’t really lame. I only made an excuse to talk this over. See?”
“A very lame excuse,” flashed Jinny.