"
"Oh, indeed; and how will you help it, you absurd boy?"
"Why, if you don't stop it, I'll just say to Bopp,--'Look here, my
dear fellow; this sister of mine is a capital girl, but she will
flirt and'"--
"And it's a family failing, Dick," cut in Dolly.
"Not a bit of it. I shall say, 'Take care of your heart, Bopp, for
she has a bad habit of playing battle-door and shuttle-cock with
these articles; and, though it may be very good fun for a time, it
makes them ache when they get a last knock and are left to lie in a
corner.'"
"What eloquence! But you'd never dare to try it on Mr. Bopp; and I
shouldn't like to predict what would happen to you if you did."
"If you say 'dare,' I'll do it the first minute I see him. As for
consequences, I don't care that for 'em;" and Dick snapped his
fingers with an aspect of much disdain. But something in his
sister's face suggested the wisdom of moderation, and moved him to
say, less like a lord of creation, and more like a brother who
privately adored his sister, but of course was not going to
acknowledge such a weakness,--
"Well, but soberly, now, I wish you wouldn't plague Bopp; for it's
evident to me that he is hit; and from the way you've gone on these
two months, what else was to be expected? Now, as the head of the
family,--you needn't laugh, for I am,--I think I ought to interfere;
and so I put it to you,--do you like him, and will you have him? or
are you merely amusing yourself, as you have done ever since you
were out of pinafores? If you like him, all serene.
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