"Two to one!" cried Anne, "and he so small; you would never be so
cowardly."

"As if he were like an honest fellow," said Charley. "A goblin like
that has his odds against a dozen of us."

"I'd teach him, if I could but catch him," cried Sedley.

"I told you," said Anne, "that he would be good if you would let him
alone and not plague him."

"Now, Anne," said Charles, as he sat putting on his stockings, "how
could I stand being cast off for that hobgoblin, that looks as if he
had been cut out of a root of yew with a blunt knife, and all
crooked! I that always was your sweetheart, to see you consorting
with a mis-shapen squinting Whig of a Nonconformist like that."

"Nonconformist! I'll Nonconform him indeed," added Sedley. "I wish
I had the wringing of his neck."

"Now is not that hard!" said Anne; "a poor lad who has been very
sick, and that every one baits and spurns."

"Serve him right," said Sedley; "he shall have more of the same
sauce!"

"I think he has cast his spell on Anne," added Charles, "or how can
she stand up for him?"

"My mamma bade me be kind to him."