Anthony Hope

“ I concluded. "Well, Lily'll make an uncommon fine peeress, Franklin, my boy."
"It's not a laughing matter," said Franklin, solemnly.
"Oh, isn't it," said I.
"I love that girl, Van, like—like blazes. But hang it, don't you know."
"If she is fit to be a gentleman's wife, she is fit to be a peer's wife," I observed, sententiously.
"Rot!" said Franklin Ford, briefly.
"But then she isn't fit to be either," said I.
"She's a dashed pretty girl," said Franklin, irrelevantly. "Have a cigar?"
"No, thank you," said I. "The prettier a tobacconist's daughter is, the worse his cigars are;" ”

“ Franklin observed on the suspiciousness of my disposition, and said that he would send the pony. It arrived some two hours later, and then I started out to visit Lily. I dealt with Lily's father, so I needed no excuse for the visit. On the contrary, in fact, a visit from me was expected—on the matter of my little account.
It was evening when I arrived at the shop. I was about to enter, when I observed that Lily was in conversation with a customer. I paused in the doorway, concealed by a large pile of wooden boxes, which professed to contain Havana cigars.
"How you go on!" remarked Lily. ”