"Why, no!" sighed uncle George. "She'd ha' to be content wi' one of
us, to be sure, and that one would be--"

"Myself, George!"

"Aye!" quoth uncle George, sighing more gustily than ever. "Begad, I
think it would, Jervas."

"Though, mark me, George, I have sometimes thought she has the
preposterous lack of judgment to prefer you."

"No--did you though!" exclaimed my uncle George, spurs jingling again.
"B'gad, and did you though--dooce take me!"

"Aye, George, I did, but only very occasionally. Of course, were she
free of this incubus Peregrine, free to live for her own happiness
instead of his, I should have her wedded and wifed while you were
thinking about it."

"Aye," sighed my uncle George, "you were always such an infernal
dasher--"

"As it is, the boy will grow into a priggish, self-satisfied
do-nothing, and she into an adoring, solitary old woman--"

"Julia! An old woman! Good God! Hush, Jervas--it sounds dooced
indecent!"

"But true, George, devilish true! Here's Julia must grow into a