"Well, you may fall in love with whomsoever you please; but you mustn't fall in love with my niece," said the old man.
His son broke into a laugh. "He'll think you mean that as a provocation! My dear father, you've lived with the English for thirty years, and you've picked up a good many of the things they say. But you've never learned the things they don't say!"
"I say what I please," the old man returned with all his serenity.