“Well, I don’t exactly know myself. I didn’t quite mean to say plans. It slipped out. But I suppose if I were let alone I would do something—very—very foolish,” sighed the physician.
At this point Bell-Bell broke into a long laugh.
“Oh, what babes! You are both under the impression that you have fooled me. Why, you old brute, any one could tell that you were seeing her if by no other way than your gentleness. She has been good for you. She will continue to be good for you. I have long ago seen that that is the solution. You must marry a Quaker. She will both steady you and make you respectable. And if you are hunting a Quaker—well, I shouldn’t wonder if you have found one. For the only reason she gave for changing from the ten-thirty to the ten-twenty was that it was a dangerous train!”
They laughed together.
“And it is, poor girl! Though, I confess, until you told me just now, I thought the danger was in the railroad.”
“Do you really think I was the danger?” asked Rem, happily.
“John, dear,” said Bell-Bell, “you are a very foolish wooer.”
“Who said I was a wooer?” demanded the young physician.
“No one but me, unfortunately,” said Mrs. Jarn.
“Not me, be hanged!”