They regret it deeply, and beg you to overlook their misbehavior.

' The government clerk was softened once more.

'I consent, count, and am ready to overlook it; but you perceive that my wife--my wife's a respectable woman --has been exposed to the persecution, and insults, and effrontery of young upstarts, scoundrels....

' And you must understand, the young upstarts are present all the while, and I have to keep the peace between them.