Isn't it so, father ?' 'I'm afraid I don't understand the matter well enough to gie my opinion,' said his father, in the tone of the fox who had a cold and could not smell.
'She couldn't have been very backward anyhow, considering the short time you have known her,' said his mother.

'Well I think that five years hence you'll be plenty young enough to think of such things.

And really she can very well afford to wait, and will too, take my word.

Living down in an out-step place like this, I am sure she ought to be very thankful that you took notice of her.

She'd most likely have died an old maid if you hadn't turned up.' 'All nonsense,' said Stephen, but not aloud.
'A nice little thing she is,' Mrs.Smith went on in a more complacent tone now that Stephen had been talked down; 'there's not a word to say against her, I'll own.