"Well said!" answered the squire. "What say ye,
Matilda?"

"Oh, dadda," came an appeal from the tambour-frame,
"I don't want to marry. I want to stay at home with--"

"Be quiet, child," spoke up her mother, "and keep thine
opinion to thyself till asked. We know best what is for thy
good."

"He, he, he!" snickered the elder Hennion. "Gals hain't
changed much since I wuz a-courtin'. They allus make aout
ter be desprit set agin the fellers an' mortal daown on marryin',
but, lordy me! if the men held off the hussies 'ud do
the chasm'."

"Thee knows, Lambert," remarked his better half, "that I
think Janice would get more discipline and greater godliness
in--"

"I tell ye he sha'n't have her," broke in the squire. "No
man who preaches against me shall have my daughter; no,
not if 't were Saint Paul himself."

"For her eventual good I--"

"Damn her eventual--"

"I fear 't will come to that."