"Suppose he resents it, and treats you badly?" suggested Mr. Manton, with a little paternal solicitude.
"I can protect myself," said Clara, with nonchalance. "He's a weak fool and I can twist him round my finger."
"He may not be as manageable as you think, Clara."
"Oh, I know him thoroughly. He hasn't much spirit. I should be ashamed if I could not manage him."
"You remember Catharine in 'Taming the Shrew'?"
"Very polite, upon my word, to compare me to a shrew. Yes, I remember her; but I shall have a different man to deal with from Petruchio. You needn't trouble yourself about me. I know what I'm about."
"Well, it's your own affair," said Mr. Manton, philosophically. "We shall know in a short time whether I am to welcome a son-in-law."
"Or whether your daughter is to remain a while longer 'an impatient rose on the ancestral tree.'"
"And use her thorns on her father instead of a husband," supplemented Mr. Manton.
"But you are getting bright in your old age, papa. Be careful or the rose may show its thorns."