"Whose corner are you in for this scrap?"

"I don't understand you."

"Well, are you rooting for Kirk, or are you holding the towel for old
man Bannister?"

"You mean, do I wish Mr. Winfield to marry my niece?"

"You're hep."

"Most certainly I do. It was I who brought them together."

"Bully for you! Well, say, I just been shooting the dope into Kirk
upstairs. I been--you didn't happen to read the report of a scrap I
once had with a gazook called Kid Mitchell, did you, ma'am?"

"I seldom, I may say never, read the sporting section of the daily
papers."

Steve looked at her in honest wonder.

"For the love of Pete! What else do you find to read in 'em?" he said.
"Well, I was telling Kirk about it. The Kid came at me to soak me, but
I soaked him first and put him out. It's the only thing to do, ma'am,
when you're up against it. Get in the first wallop before the other guy
can get himself set for his punch. 'Kirk,' I says, 'don't you wait for
old man Bannister to tell you you can't marry Miss Ruth. Marry her
before he can say it.' I wish you'd tell him the same thing, ma'am. You
know the old man as well as I do--better, I guess--and you know that