"No," said Rupert, "I would not voluntarily endure it again for that, or twice that; though now that it is over I am not sorry to have had the experience. Are you for your share of it, love?" to Juanita, sitting by his side.
"Ah, my husband," lifting to him eyes beaming with love and happiness, "I can never, never regret anything that brought us together!"
"What beautifully correct English Juanita speaks," remarked Mildred, admiringly.
"Yes, I think so," said Rupert, "and take all the credit to myself, since I have been her only teacher; she could not speak a word of it when we first met."
"He first stole my heart," said Juanita, with a low, musical laugh, "and then it was not so difficult to make me understand and speak his language."
"No," said Rupert; "if there was any theft it was on your side; you robbed me of my heart with the first glance of your lovely eyes, so that when I got possession of yours it was only a fair exchange, which, according to the proverb, is no robbery."
Juanita looked at him with pretended reproach in her beautiful eyes. "He always gets the better of me when we quarrel like this; he always will have the last word."
"Ah, but you shouldn't let him," Zillah said, with a merry look at her husband. "Wallace knows better than to expect it always. Don't you, dear?"
"Oh yes, of course," laughed Wallace; "but for all that I'm not apt to stop till I've freed my mind; and sometimes my wife is wise enough not to answer back unless with soft words or a merry jest that conquers my inclination to be disagreeable."
"She's a very nice, wise little woman," remarked the doctor, "yet, I think, excelled to some extent by her elder sister," glancing at Mildred as he spoke.