`` i do n't think anyone should say i had an excess of sensibility about the matter , '' granby said , which laurence thought rather understated the case , `` and in any case one could not worry over-much about a child with , as far as i can see , a dozen nursemaids over ten tons in size ; beyond the usual line , that is ; but it is over-much for hammond to talk of my qualities as a sire in that way , as though i were a horse . ''