it. And _there's_ another reason, Austin, why you should marry--you have no
eye for these things, whereas a clever _woman_ would see at a glance and
prevent mischief.'

'So she would,' acquiesced my father, in his gloomy, amused way. 'Maud, you
must try to be a clever woman.'

'So she will in her time, but that is not come yet; and I tell you, Austin
Ruthyn, if you won't look about and marry somebody, somebody may possibly
marry you.'

'You were always an oracle, Monica; but _here_ I am lost in total
perplexity,' said my father.

'Yes; sharks sailing round you, with keen eyes and large throats; and you
have come to the age precisely when men _are_ swallowed up alive like
Jonah.'

'Thank you for the parallel, but you know that was not a happy union, even
for the fish, and there was a separation in a few days; not that I mean to
trust to that; but there's no one to throw me into the jaws of the monster,
and I've no notion of jumping there; and the fact is, Monica, there's no
monster at all.'

'I'm not so sure.'

'But I'm quite sure,' said my father, a little drily. 'You forget how old
I am, and how long I've lived alone--I and little Maud;' and he smiled and
smoothed my hair, and, I thought, sighed.