“Fair and softly does it, fair an' softly does it,” cried his aunt, Frank's wife, contrary.

“You don't want to fall over yourself,” said his uncle by marriage. “You're not a bull at a gate.”

“Let a man have his own road,” said Tom Brangwen testily.

“Don't be so free of your advice — it's his wedding this time, not yours.”

“'E don't want many sign-posts,” said his father. “There's some roads a man has to be led, an' there's some roads a boss-eyed man can only follow wi' one eye shut. But this road can't be lost by a blind man nor a boss-eyed man nor a cripple — and he's neither, thank God.”

“Don't you be so sure o' your walkin' powers,”