nd Pecksniff says that father's being so
lately dead makes very little odds; for we can be married as quiet as we
please down here, and my being lonely is a good reason to the neighbours
for taking a wife home so soon, especially one that he knew. As to
crossbones (my uncle, I mean), he's sure not to put a spoke in the
wheel, whatever we settle on, for he told Pecksniff only this morning,
that if YOU liked it he'd nothing at all to say. So, Mel,' said Jonas,
venturing on another squeeze; 'when shall it be?'

'Upon my word!' cried Merry.

'Upon my soul, if you like,' said Jonas. 'What do you say to next week,
now?'

'To next week! If you had said next quarter, I should have wondered at
your impudence.'

'But I didn't say next quarter,' retorted Jonas. 'I said next week.'

'Then, Griffin,' cried Miss Merry, pushing him off, and rising. 'I say
no! not next week. It shan't be till I choose, and I may not choose it
to be for months. There!'

He glanced up at her from the ground, almost as darkly as he had looked
at Tom Pinch; but held his peace.

'No fright of a Griffin with a patch over his eye shall dictate to me or
have a voice in the matter,' said Merry. 'There!'

Still Mr Jonas held his peace.

'If it's next month, that shall be the very earliest; but I won't say
when it shall be till to-morrow; and if you don't like that, it shall
never be at all,' said Merry; 'and if you follow me about and won't
leave me alone, it shall never be at all. There! And if you don't do
everything I order you to do, it shall never be at all. So don't follow
me. There, Griffin!'

And with that, she skipped away, among the trees.

'Ecod, my lady!' said Jonas, looking after her, and biting a piece
of straw, almost to powder; 'you'll catch it for this, when you ARE
married. It's all very well now--it keeps one on, somehow, and you know
it--but I'll pay you off scot and lot by-and-bye. This is a plaguey dull
sort of a place for a man to be sitting by himself in. I never could
abide a mouldy old churchyard.'

As he turned into the avenue himself, Miss Merry, who was far ahead,
happened to look back.

'Ah!' said Jonas, with a sullen smile, and a nod that was not addressed
to her. 'Make the most of it while it lasts. Get in your hay while the
sun shines. Take your own way as long as it's in your power, my lady!'

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

IS IN PART PROFESSIONAL, AND FURNISHES THE READER WITH SOME VALUABLE
HINTS IN RELATION TO TH