"Oh, will I? Ort Hippisley can dance better with one foot than Tawm Kinch could dance if he was a centipede."
"Ort Hippisley! Humph! He's lost his job and he'll never get another. You couldn't marry him."
"I'm not in any hurry to marry anybody."
The reaction from hope to confusion, the rejection of the glittering gift he proffered, infuriated the hen-pecked, chickpecked father. He shrieked:
"Well, you're going to marry Tawm Kinch or you're going to get out of my house!"
"Papa!" gasped Ollie.
"Here, dad!" growled Horace.
"William!" cried Serina.
William thumped the table and rose to his full height. He had not often risen to it. And his voice had an unsuspected timbre:
"I mean it. I've been a worm in this house long enough. Here's where I turn. This girl has made me a laughing-stock and a despising-stock long enough. She can take this grand opportunity I got for her or she can pack up her duds and clear out—for good!"