“Tribulation and the prosperous Mr. Lynn are a singular and almost unlooked-for conjunction.”
“A man may have a great deal and yet want more. In fact, if he owns the earth he usually wants the moon, or something equally impossible.”
“Is that one of your longings?”
“No; mine is more sublunary, if you will permit a pun so atrocious. The truth is there’s another Galatea in whose marble veins I should like to see the warm blood of feeling run. My presence always seems to congeal the red current that glows for others.”
“You speak in enigmas.”
“Just now, perhaps; but by-and-by you will understand. By the way, there is one intense longing you can gratify. May I drop in some time to one of those charming ‘evenings’ Lizzette and Antoine have described to me? I have a sincere desire to consider myself a beneficiary.”
“I am afraid I should say ‘no,’ if I did not begin to realize a little the earnestness of your nature. We are sensitive to our shortcomings.”
“An equal sensitiveness inspires me with the desire to find a motive as admirable as that which actuates your little coterie. Besides—I suppose I may as well be honest, since you will be sure to find me out—I play the violin a little myself, and would be most happy occasionally to supply Antoine’s vacant niche, provided your sister could be prevailed upon to accompany me.”
A new light dawned upon Margaret as she watched the boyish blush that mounted to Herbert’s brow. “And so you have already found out what an uncertain quantity my little sister is?”
“As regards your humble servant, she has been a profound certainty. A block of ice could not have been a colder reality,” answered Herbert with a rueful smile.