“I have a very weak head for business, Bo-peep,” was the reply.
“Don’t I know it, my pet; and I am the last person on earth to allow you to be worried; but I tell you what it is, Victory, if your head is weak as regards money matters, your girl has a topping good brain in that direction. Now, I have a notion in my head about her.”
“You can’t do anything with her,” said Mrs. Howland; “she is quite impossible. I never thought she would treat you as she did. I could weep when I think of it. I shouldn’t be surprised if, on account of her rudeness and ingratitude, we broke off the engagement. I shouldn’t really, James.”
“What do you take me for?” said James. “It isn’t the girl I want to marry! it’s you.”
“Oh dear!” said Mrs. Howland; “of course, I know.”
“She ain’t a patch on you, Little-sing—that is, I mean as regards looks. But now, don’t you fret. If you have been turning things over in your mind, so have I been turning things over in my mind, and the sum and substance of it all is that I believe that girl’s right after all.”
“Right after all! But dear, dear James, the child can’t live on nothing!”
“Who said she was to live on nothing?” said Martin. “Don’t tremble, Little-sing; it’s more than I can stand. I have been thinking that a sharp young miss like that wants a bit more training. She wants breaking in. Now, I’ve no mind to the job. I can manage my shop-people—not one of them can come round me, I can tell you—but a miss like your daughter, brought up altogether, I will say, above her station, 103 is beyond me. What I have been turning over in my mind is this, that a year or two’s training longer will do her no sort of harm.”
“Oh!” said Mrs. Howland. She was trembling exceedingly.
“I think, too,” continued Martin, “that Laburnum Villa might not be agreeable to her at present; and if it ain’t agreeable to her she’ll put on the sulks, and that’s more than I can abide. Cheerfulness I must have. My joke I must be allowed to make. My fun in my own way I must enjoy. You and me—we’ll hit it off splendid, and let the girl go for the present.”