He stood there surveying her. "It wouldn't do at all for you to marry Prescott, Katie. He's a likeable enough fellow, but with it all something of a duffer."
"Just what kind of man," asked Katie demurely, "would you say I had better marry?"
He sat down in a chair nearer her. "Just what kind of man would you like to marry?"
"How do you know," she asked, still demurely, "that I would like to marry any?"
"Oh you must have a guide, Katie. You must be guided through this wicked world."
She bit her lip and turned away when he told her she must have a guide.
But she turned back, and seriously. "Is it a wicked world?"
With that he ventured to pat the hand now lying on the arm of the chair so near him. "Well you'll never know it, if it is. We'll keep it all from you, Katie. You're safe."
Katie pulled her hand away petulantly. "If there's anything I don't want to be," she said, "it's safe."
That seemed to amuse him. "I only meant," he laughed, "safe from the great outer world."