all at supper. Had it not been for Berkins it wouldn't have mattered.
He was indignant when he saw one of those jackanapeses with his arm
round the back of Grace's chair; he says that such company is not fit
for the lady that is going to be his wife; and he now insists on
fixing the day, the settlements, and everything, or of breaking off
the match."

"Then why don't you fix the day and the settlements?"

"Grace is not willing; she is quite undecided. She says she doesn't
know whether she will have him or not. Sally tries to set her against
him; she laughs at him, says he is pompous, and imitates him. Of
course, it is quite true that he thinks everything he has is betterthan
anybody else's. She says he is old, and says that kissing him
would be like rubbing your face in a mattress."

"The fact is," said Aunt Mary, "Sally ought to have been a man; had
she been a man, it would have been all right."

Aunt Hester, who had spent her life in a vicarage, glanced uneasily at
her sister, and fidgeted with the papers in her satchel.

"I suppose it will be all the same a hundred years hence."

"No, James, it will not," replied Aunt Hester, with unusual
determination.

The conversation dropped, and the speakers stared at each other at a
loss how to proceed.