"Did you speak, Miss Bell ?" he continued, turning with a little courteous movement, which vastly became him, towards the enamored Matty.
"I said a cab was going up the hill," said Matty.
"Oh, really! A cab _is_ an interesting sight, particularly a Northbury cab.

Shall I make a riddle for you on the spot, Miss Bell?
What is the sole surviving curiosity still to be found out of Noah's ark ?" Matty went off into her usual half-hysterical laughter.
"Oh! I do declare, Captain Bertram, you are too killingly clever for anything," she responded.

"Oh, my poor side--I'll die if I laugh any more.

Oh, do have mercy on me! To compare that poor cab to Noah's ark!" "I didn't; it isn't the least like the ark, only I think it must once have found a shelter within that place of refuge." "Oh! oh! oh! I am taken with such a stitch when I laugh.

You are too witty, Captain Bertram.