Bailiffs Daughter (hedging).—­“I shall be rather busy; the Crossed Minorca hen comes off to-morrow.”

True Love.—­“Oh, never mind!  I’ll take her off to-night when I escort you to the farm; then she’ll get a day’s advantage.”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“And rob fourteen prospective chicks of a mother; nay, lose the chicks themselves?  Never!”

True Love.—­“So long as you are a Goose Girl, does it make any difference whose you are?  Is it any more agreeable to be Mrs. Heaven’s Goose Girl than mine?”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“Ah! but in one case the term of service is limited; in the other, permanent.”

True Love.—­“But in the one case you are the slave of the employer, in the other the employer of the slave.  Why did you run away?”

Bailiff’s Daughter.—­“A man’s mind is too dull an instrument to measure a woman’s reason; even my own fails sometimes to deal with all its delicate shades; but I think I must have run away chiefly to taste the pleasure of being pursued and brought back.  If it is necessary to your happiness that you should explore all the Bluebeard chambers of my being, I will confess further that it has taken you nearly three weeks to accomplish what I supposed you would do in three days!”

True Love (after a well-spent interval).—­“To-morrow, then; shall we say before breakfast?  All, do!  Why not?  Well, then, immediately after breakfast, and I breakfast at seven nowadays, and sometimes earlier.  Do take off those ugly cotton gloves, dear; they are five sizes too large for you, and so rough and baggy to the touch!”