"But she has a moustache."
"What of that, if she have money?"
"But—Iver—if he couldn't bear an ugly signboard to the house, will he relish an ugly figure-head to his wife within it?"
"She has gold which will gild her moustache."
"I don't know," said Mehetabel; "Iver wouldn't take the business at his father's wish, will he take a wife of his mother's providing?"
"He will know which side his bread is buttered better than some persons I could name."
"I fancy when folk look out for wives, they don't borrow their mother's eyes."
"You cross me in everything to-day," said the hostess, peevishly.
Mehetabel's tears began to flow.
Mrs. Verstage was a woman who did not need much time or much balancing to arrive at a determination, and when she had formed her resolution, she clung to it with the same tenacity as her husband did to his.