"Just so," said Mrs. Marx. "Don't get married; not if you can live without."
"You to speak so!" said Tom. "I never should have thought, Mrs. Marx, you were one of that sort."
"What sort?"
"The sort that talk against marriage."
"I don't!—only against marryin' the wrong one; and unless it's somebody that you can't live without, you may be sure it ain't the right one."
"How many people in the world do you suppose are married on that principle?"
"Everybody that has any business to be married at all," responded the lady with great decision.
"Well, honestly, I don't feel as if I could live without Miss Lothrop.
I've been thinking about it for months."
"I wouldn't stay much longer in that state," said Mrs. Marx, "if I was you. When people don' know whether they're goin' to live or die, their existence ain't much good to 'em."
"Then you think I may ask her?"