"Well, you'd be improving your property, wouldn't you? And you'd get it back in the higher rent."
"I'm not thinking about getting anything back. And nothing would please me better. Only, you see, I can't very well turn Ballinger out as long as he behaves himself."
"I wouldn't have him turned out for the world…. But do you consider that Ballinger has behaved himself?"
"Well, he played me a dirty trick, perhaps, when he went to Grainger; but if Grainger can afford to pay for him I've no right to object to his being bought. It isn't a reason for turning the man out."
"I don't see how he can expect you to refuse a good tenant for him."
"I must if I haven't a good house to put him into."
"He doesn't expect it, Mr. Waddington. Didn't you give him notice in
December?"
"A mere matter of form. He knows he can stay on if there's nowhere else for him to go to."
"Then why," said Mrs. Levitt, "does he go about saying that he dares you to let the cottage over his head?"
"Does he? Does he say that?"