‘My dear uncle, pray, pray, do not allow yourself to get quite so red in the face; at your time of life you really alarm me.’
‘You—you vile young jackanapes! You—you cockatrice!—And you, miss, you shall smart for this. I’ll—I’ll—— Oh!’
‘Patience, good uncle; prithee, patience.’
‘Patience! O for a good horsewhip!’
‘When I called upon you this morning, sir,’ resumed Charles the imperturbable, ‘I left unsaid the most important part of that which I had come to say; it therefore became needful that I should see you again.’
‘O for a horsewhip! Are you going to take these things off me, or are you not?’
‘The object of my second visit, sir, is to inform you that Miss Brandon and I are engaged to be married, and to beg of you to give us your consent and blessing, and make two simple young creatures happy.’
‘Handcuffed like a common poacher on his way to jail! Oh, when once I get free!’
‘We have made up our minds to get married; haven’t we, Elsie?’
‘We have—or else to die together,’ replied Miss Brandon, as she struck a little tragic attitude.