My dear, I am going too fast. I should say that Mr. Quincy P. Morris found me alone. It seems that a man always does find a girl alone. Actually, no, he doesn't, for Arthur tried twice before he got a chance, even with me helping him all I could. (I am not ashamed to say that now.) Now, Mr. Morris doesn't always speak slang. He never talks slang to strangers or in front of them, because he is really well-educated and has exquisite manners. But he found out that it amused me to hear him talk American slang. So whenever there was no-one else there to be shocked, he said such funny things. I am afraid, my dear, he has to invent it all, for it fits exactly with whatever else he has to say. But I suppose that slang is like that. I do not know if I shall ever speak slang myself. I do not know if Arthur likes it, because I have never yet heard him use any.

Well, Mr. Morris sat down beside me. He looked as happy and jolly as he could, but I could see that he was very nervous anyway. He took my hand in his, and said very sweetly 'Miss Lucy, I know I ain't good enough to tie the laces on your little shoes. But I guess if you wait till you find a man that is good enough, you will finish your days without getting wed. Won't you hitch up with me? Let us go down the long road of life together, side by side.'

Well, he did look so good-humoured and so jolly that it didn't seem half so hard to refuse him as it did poor Dr. Seward. So as lightly as I could, I said that I did not know anything of hitching, and that I wasn't ready to go side-by-side yet.

Vocabulary:

Slang: Colloquial language
Exquisite: Beautiful, fine and delicate
Jolly: Happy and energetic
Ain't: 'Am not' or 'isn't'
Hitch up: Make a team [of horses]. Slang for marriage is 'getting hitched'