adylike way."

"Well, but you want to deny them things."

"Brothers are so unpleasant."

"Oh, my dear, you must allow for young men. Be thankful if they have
good hearts. A woman must learn to put up with little things. You
will be married some day."

"Not to any one who is like Fred."

"Don't decry your own brother, my dear. Few young men have less
against them, although he couldn't take his degree--I'm sure I can't
understand why, for he seems to me most clever. And you know yourself
he was thought equal to the best society at college. So particular as
you are, my dear, I wonder you are not glad to have such a gentlemanly
young man for a brother. You are always finding fault with Bob because
he is not Fred."

"Oh no, mamma, only because he is Bob."

"Well, my dear, you will not find any Middlemarch young man who has not
something against him."

"But"--here Rosamond's face broke into a smile which suddenly revealed
two dimples. She herself thought unfavorably of these dimples and
smiled little in general society. "But I shall not marry any
Middlemarch young man."

"So it seems, my love, for you have as good as refused the pick of
them; and if there's better to be had, I'm sure there's no girl better
deserves it."

"Excuse me, mamma--I wish you would not say, 'the pick of them.'"

"Why, what else are they?"

"I mean, mamma, it is rather a vulgar expression."

"Very likely, my dear; I never was a good speaker. What should I say?"

"The best of them."

"Why, that seems just as plain and common. If I had had time to think,
I should have said, 'the most superior young men.' But with your
education you must know."

"What must Rosy know, mother?" said Mr. Fred, who had slid in
unobserved through the half-open door while the ladies were bending
over their work, and now going up to the fire stood with his back
towards it, warming the soles of his slippers.

"Whether it's right to say 'superior young men,'" said Mrs. Vincy,
ringing the bell.

"Oh, there are so many superior teas and sugars now. Superior is
getting to be shopkeepers' slang."

"Are you beginning to dislike slang, then?" said Rosamond, with mild
gravity.

"Only the wrong sort. All choice of words is slang. It marks a class."

"There is correct English: that is not slang."

"I beg your pardon: correct English is the slang of prigs who write
history and essays. And the strongest slang of all is the slang of
poets."

"Yo