‘Aunt Pipkin!’ exclaimed the wretched Ruby.

‘What do you think I’m going to do with her?’ asked Sir Felix.

’If you want to make her your wife, put it in writing.  And if it be as you don’t, just say so, and walk away,—­free.’

‘I shall go,’ said Ruby.  ’I’m not going to be kept here a prisoner for any one.  I can go when I please.  You wait, Felix, and I’ll be down in a minute.’  The girl, with a nimble spring, ran upstairs, and began to change her dress without giving herself a moment for thought.

‘She don’t come back no more here, Sir Felix,’ said Mrs Pipkin, in her most solemn tones.  ’She...