“She wants to go—at least she wants to leave London.”
“What does she? Weel, weel! But didn't I say she was nought but one of your Sisters or sic-like?—And you're going to let a slip of a girl tak' you away frae your ain work and your ain duty—and you call yourself a man!”
He began to coax and appease her, and before long the grim old face was struggling between smiles and tears.
“Tut! get along wi' ye! I've a great mind, though—I'd be liking fine to see her anyway. Now, where does she bide in London?”
“Why do you want to know that, auntie?”
“What's it to you, laddie? Can't a body call to say 'Good-bye' to a lassie, and tak' her a wee present before going away, without asking a man's permission?”
“I shouldn't do it, though, if I were you.”
“And why not, pray?”
“Because she's as bright as a star and as quick as a diamond, and she'd see through you in a twinkling. Besides, I shouldn't advise——”
“Keep your advice like your salt till you're asked for it, my man—and to think of any reasonable body giving up his work in London for that—that——”