"To be sure."
"I can't do it, Mr. Putnam; I can't."
"Write it."
"Why, I'd feel as if the postman and everybody else knew it."
"Telephone."
"Worse yet."
"Jim Minton, I'm disgusted with you. I thought you were a young man with some enterprise, but if you lose your courage over such an every-day affair as proposing to a girl—"
"But men don't propose every day."
"Somebody is proposing to somebody every day. It goes on all the time. No, sir; I wash my hands of it. I'll not withdraw my consent, and you have my moral support and encouragement, but getting married is the same as getting into trouble—you have to handle your own case."
"But, Mr. Putnam—"