“Living jingo! He ’s been a-troublin’ you?”
“No. He loves me too much to persecute me, and, besides, he’s a gentleman.”
“Now, Miss Janice, you know as how I—”
“Am trying to marry me against my will.”
“But the squire says you’ll be gladsome enough a month gone; that—”
“Ugh!”
“Now please don’t—”
“And what I am going to tell you and what you’ve given your word not to repeat is this: If you persist in trying to marry me, if you so much as try to—to—to be familiar, that moment I’ll run off with him—there!”
“You never would!”
“In an instant.”