“No, that I don’t, Jack.”
“Well, but now I will!”
“You? speak in earnest?”
“My good fellow, I can tell you I am quite capable of giving a friend a bit of advice.”
“Let’s hear, then, Jack!”
“Well, look here! You love Nell as heartily as she deserves. Old Simon, your father, and old Madge, your mother, both love her as if she were their daughter. Why don’t you make her so in reality? Why don’t you marry her?”
“Come, Jack,” said Harry, “you are running on as if you knew how Nell felt on the subject.”
“Everybody knows that,” replied Jack, “and therefore it is impossible to make you jealous of any of us. But here goes the ladder again—I’m off!”
“Stop a minute, Jack!” cried Harry, detaining his companion, who was stepping onto the moving staircase.
“I say! you seem to mean me to take up my quarters here altogether!”