"Well, Hiram," she proceeded tranquilly, "if those marriages are to take place, Charles and I will expect you to meet us halfway." "If Ross and my Delia and Arthur and your Jane are fond of each other, let 'em marry as you and Charles, as Ellen and I married.

I ain't buyin' your son, nor sellin' my daughter.

That's my last word, Tillie." On impulse, he pressed the electric button in the wall behind him.
When the new upstairs girl came, he said: "Tell the children I want to see 'em." Arthur and Adelaide presently came, flushed with the exercise of the tennis the girl had interrupted.
"Mrs.Whitney, here," said Hiram, "tells me her children won't marry without settlements, as it's called.

And I've been tellin' her that my son and daughter ain't buyin' and sellin'." Mrs.Whitney hid her fury.

"Your father has a quaint way of expressing himself," she said, laughing elegantly.