“Ain't my word good enough!”
“If you mean to do it, why are you afraid to write it!”
“I 'm not afraid.”
“Then write it.” She held the paper to him with outstretched arm.
“What shall I write!”
“Write what I say: 'I Aleck Thompson, promise and bind myself if I remain in office for another term to appoint my dear friend, Dick Creel'—underscore that—'my first deputy, and to keep him in as long as he keeps sober and attends to his business.' Now sign it.”
“What consideration do I get for this!” Thompson looked up from the paper at her ca-jolingly. She met his gaze with a little flash.
“Oh! I forgot the consideration,” she murmured, “and I Squire Jefford's daughter, too!
“Write: 'The consideration for the above is the love I bear the aforesaid Richard Creel, and the fear I have that his wife will tell the Judge what a smart Aleck I am.'”
“Mary, you don't want me to write that!”