"Since I reformed I began again," said Goby. He felt the muscles of his right arm with complacency.
"Take him out and make him row, then," said Pen, "and while he rows you can read poetry to him, and so on. It will be good for both of you."
"But—" said Goby.
"Yes?"
"If I do this, will you marry me?"
Penelope shook her head.
"If you do it, I'll think whether I'll marry you."
"Oh," said the soldier, "and if I just can't hit it off with that poet?"
"Then I won't think about it," replied Pen. "I'll never, never consider the possibility of marrying any one who isn't leading a useful life, and educating himself, and living on less than a thousand a year. Can you do that, too?"
"Dashed if I see how it can be done," said Plantagenet Goby. "But I'll try, oh, yes, I'll try."