I want a wife , and I am going to have one . You two will stay up there , and Julius Caesar here will watch you until one of you makes up her mind to take me . You can settle it between yourselves , and let me know when you have come to a decision . '' And with that Isaac walked jauntily into his new house . `` The man ca n't mean it ! '' said Melissa . `` He is trying to play a joke on us . '' `` He does mean it , '' I said gloomily . `` An Appleby never says anything he does n't mean . He will keep us here until one of us consents to marry him . '' `` It wo n't be me , then , '' said Melissa in a calm sort of rage . `` I wo n't marry him if I have to sit on this roof for the rest of my life . You can take him . It 's really you he wants , anyway ; he asked you first . '' I always knew that rankled with Melissa . I thought the situation over before I said anything more . We certainly could n't get off that roof , and if we could , there was Julius Caesar . The place was out of sight of every other house in Jersey Cove , and nobody might come near it for a week . To be sure , when Melissa and I did n't turn up the Covites might get out and search for us ; but that would n't be for two or three days anyhow . Melissa had turned her back on me and was sitting with her elbows propped up on her knees , looking gloomily out to sea .
I was afraid I could n't coax her XXXXX marrying Isaac .
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