She was goin ' off rather huffy , when Kitty called out , -- '' ` Stop , ma ! I 'll come down and help you , only ketch me if I tumble . ' `` She looked scared but stiddy , and I 'll bet it took as much grit for her to do it as for one of us to face a battery . It do n't seem much to tell of , but I wish I may be hit if it was n't a right down dutiful and clever thing to see done . When the old lady took her off at the bottom , with a good motherly hug , ` Good , ' thinks I ; ` what more do you want ? ' '' `` A snug little property would n't a ben bad , I reckon , '' said Flint . `` Well , she had it , old skin-flint , though I did n't know or care about it then . What a jolly row she 'd make if she knew I was tellin ' the ladder part of the story ! She always does when I get to it , and makes believe cry , with her head in my breast-pocket , or any such handy place , till I take it out and swear I 'll never do so ag ` in . Poor little Kit , I wonder what she 's doin ' now . Thinkin ' of me , I 'll bet . '' Dick paused , pulled his cap lower over his eyes , and smoked a minute with more energy than enjoyment , for his cigar was out and he did not perceive it . `` That 's not all , is it ? '' asked Thorn , taking a fatherly interest in the younger man 's love passages . `` Not quite . ` Fore long , Joe whistled , and as I always take short cuts everywhar , I put in at the back-door , jest as Kitty come trottin ' out of the pantry with a big berry-pie in her hand . I startled her , she tripped over the sill and down she come ; the dish flew one way , the pie flopped into her lap , the juice spatterin ' my boots and her clean gown . I thought she 'd cry , scold , have hysterics , or some confounded thing or other ; but she jest sat still a minute , then looked up at me with a great blue splash on her face , and went off into the good-naturedest gale of laughin ' you ever heard in your life . That finished me . ` Gay , ' thinks I ; ` go in and win . '
So I did ; made love hand over hand , while I stayed with XXXXX ; pupposed a fortnight after , married her in three months , and there she is , a tiptop little woman , with a pair of stunnin ' boys in her arms ! ''
Dick Flint Joe Kitty Thorn berry-pie breast-pocket hysterics right skin-flint