I suppose she 's coming here to blow me up for refusing to let Burton take that girl of hers . She 's been angling and scheming for it for years , but she will find who she has to deal with . Come on , Miss Susan . '' John Ellis laid down his paper and stood up with a sarcastic smile . Miss Susan reached the steps and skimmed undauntedly up them . She did indeed look angry and disturbed . Without any preliminary greeting she burst out into a tirade that simply took away her complacent foe 's breath . `` Look here , John Ellis , I want to know what this means . I 've discovered that that young upstart of a son of yours , who ought to be in short trousers yet , has been courting my niece , Madge Oliver , all summer . He has had the impudence to tell me that he wants to marry her . I wo n't have it , I tell you , and you can tell your son so . Marry my niece indeed ! A pretty pass the world is coming to ! I 'll never consent to it . '' Perhaps if you had searched Greenwood and all the adjacent districts thoroughly you might have found a man who was more astonished and taken aback than old John Ellis was at that moment , but I doubt it . The wind was completely taken out of his sails and every bit of the Ellis contrariness was roused . `` What have you got to say against my son ? '' he fairly shouted in his rage . `` Is n't he good enough for your girl , Susan Oliver , I 'd like to know ? '' `` No , he is n't , '' retorted Miss Susan deliberately and unflinchingly .
`` He 's well enough in his place , but you 'll please to remember , John Ellis , XXXXX my niece is an Oliver , and the Olivers do n't marry beneath them . ''
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