Bless the boy! He might be forty instead of three or four and twenty, he's so sober, calm, and cool.

I'm younger than he is, and could go a-wooing like a Romeo if I had any heart to offer a woman." The doctor looked rather shamefaced as he spoke, and his brother burst out laughing.

"See here, Alec, it's a pity so much romance and excellence as yours should be lost, so why don't you set these young fellows an example and go a-wooing yourself?
Jessie has been wondering how you have managed to keep from falling in love with Phebe all this time, and Clara is quite sure that you waited only till she was safe under Aunt Plenty's wing to offer yourself in the good old-fashioned style." "I!" And the doctor stood aghast at the mere idea, then he gave a resigned sort of sigh and added like a martyr, "If those dear women would let me alone, I'd thank them forever.

Put the idea out of their minds for heaven's sake, Mac, or I shall be having that poor girl flung at my head and her comfort destroyed.

She is a fine creature and I'm proud of her, but she deserves a better lot than to be tied to an old fellow like me whose only merit is his fidelity." "As you please, I was only joking," and Uncle Mac dropped the subject with secret relief.