She wrinkled her Greek nose at him, but she liked his banter, and with assumed offense she replied: "Frog." "None of that, my lady." "Well, then, what made you call me a young rabbit?" "Because your ears stick out." "I don't care if they do." "Neither does a young rabbit." "I call you a frog because your eyes stick out and because you are so puffy." "Slow, now, my lady, queen of the sunk lands. Oh, but they are laying for you at home and you are going to catch it. I'd hate to be in your fix." "And I wouldn't be in yours." "Easy, now. You allude to my looks, eh? Why, I have broken more than one heart." "Why, I didn't know you had been married but once." He winced. "Look here, you mustn't talk that way." "But you began it. You called me a young rabbit." "That's right, and now we will call it off. What a memory you've got. I gad, once joke with a woman and her impudence--which she mistakes for wit--leaps over all difference in ages. But they are laying for you at home and you are going to catch it. I laughed at them; told them it was nonsense to suppose that the smartest girl in the state was going to marry--" "You've said enough. I don't need your championship." "But you've got it and can't help yourself. Why, so far as brains are concerned, the average legislator can't hold a candle to you." "That's no compliment." "Slow. I was in the legislature." "Yes, one term, I hear." "Why did you hear one term?" "Because they didn't send you back, I suppose." "Easy. But I tell you that the Major and your mother are furious. Your mother said--" "She said very little in your presence." "Careful. She said a great deal. But I infer from your insinuation that she doesn't think very well of me." "You ought to know." "I do; I know that she is wrong in her estimate of me. And I also know that I am right in my estimate of her. She is the soul of gentleness and quiet dignity. But you like me, don't you?" "I am ashamed to say that I like you in spite of my judgment."