"Poor Dick! She did not whip often."
"It did me good, sir. I have been scrupulously careful of furniture ever since."
"Ah, nothing like the lessons of early childhood for making an impression," spoke Mr. North. "'Spare the rod and spoil the child!' There was never a truer saying than that."
"Then you really intend them to marry at once," said Richard, returning to the question.
"I do," replied Mr. North in more decisive tones than he usually spoke. "They both wish it: and why should I hold out against them? Bessy's thirty this year, you know, Dick: if girls are not wives at that age, they begin to think it hard. It's better to marry tolerably young: a man and woman don't shake down into each other's ways if they come together late in life. You are silent, Dick."
"I was thinking, sir, whether I could not manage a couple of hundred pounds for them from myself."
"You are ever generous, Dick. I don't know what we should all do without you."
"The question is--shall I give it over to them in money, or spend it for them in furniture?"
"In money; in money, Dick," advised Mr. North. "The furniture can be managed; and cash is cash. Spend it in chairs and tables and it seems as if there were nothing tangible to show for it."
Richard smiled. "It strikes me that the argument lies the other way, sir. However, I think it will be better to do as you advise. Bessy shall have two hundred pounds handed to her after her marriage, and they can do what they consider best with it."