"
Annot's heart beat quickly as she heard him make the last important
declaration; and beautifully she thought he made it. When Chapeau called
her a little angel, she swore to herself that he was the dearest fellow
that ever lived and when he finished by protesting that she was the girl
of his heart, and that he loved her better than all the world, she
longed to run out and throw her arms about his neck.
Michael Stein took a long pull at his pipe, and blew out a huge cloud
of tobacco before he made any answer, and then he said:
"M. Chapeau, I am sensible how great an honour you propose to do me and
my poor daughter; but I am not a proud man, no one can say that Michael
Stein was ever proud or ambitious; my only wish is to see my little girl
married to a decent hard-working fellow, like her father."
"Well, ain't I a hard-working fellow?"
"Let me look at your hands, M. Chapeau; the inside of your hands. No,
you are not a hard-working fellow; your hand is as soft as a lady's."
"What signifies my hand? I shan't make a worse husband, shall I, because
my hand is not as horny as your own.
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