"A kick in the face will do him good," replied Sidney disdainfully.
"He can't take a joke, though he did try to take me, and I'm much the biggest joke he has ever run against. The truth of the matter is he has made up his mind to get back the Captain's furniture, which belongs to Miss Yard now, and he knows the only way he can get it is by marrying me."
"There's grandfather growling! He's telling Teenie to go to bed, and she's telling him to go himself. That kid never is tired. Now he's chuckling! Grandfather likes to be cheeked."
"I ought to have gone long ago. It must be getting on for midnight."
"And we've got to be up early. I'm coming with you, and you shall introduce me to Miss Yard, and then I'll take you to my people, and then we'll get married—"
"Well, of all the precociousness!" she gasped. "Do you know I'm older than you?"
"You can't blame me for that."
"And I expect to be treated with respect. And my father was never anything more than a very poor curate."
"Well, a curate is a bishop on a small scale, and we are only shopkeepers on a large scale. It's funny that poor curates should always have the nicest daughters."
"And I can't forgive you for talking to me like a farmer's boy."