I'd rather have
him for a brother than any one I know, for he's a regular trump
though he _is_ poor; but if you don't, I won't have the dear old
fellow floored just because you like to see it done."
It may here be remarked that Dolly quite glowed to hear her brother
praise Mr. Bopp, and that she indorsed every word with mental
additions of double warmth; but Dick had begun all wrong, and,
manlike, demanded her confidence before she had made up her mind to
own she had any to bestow; therefore nothing came of it but vexation
of spirit; for it is a well-known fact that, on some subjects, if
boys will tease, girls will fib, and both maintain that it is right.
So Dolly whetted her feminine weapon, and assumed a lofty
superiority.
"Dear me! what a sudden spasm of virtue; and why, if it is such a
sin, has not the 'head of the house' taken his sister to task
before, instead of indulging in a like degeneracy, and causing
several interesting persons to tear their hair, and bewail his
forgetfulness, when they ought to have blessed their stars he was
out of the way?"
Dick snowballed a dozing crow and looked nettled; for he had
attained that age when "Tom Brown at Oxford" was the book of books,
the twelfth chapter being the favorite, and five young ladies having
already been endowed with the significant heliotrope flower; all of
which facts Dolly had skilfully brought to mind, as a return-shot
for his somewhat personal remarks.
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