"I was thinking of dear Sidney. I do wish someone would come along and marry her, so as to prevent her shutting herself up in some poky house. But there isn't anyone near here good enough for her. Of course, women don't marry nowadays as they used to do; but Sidney is so enchanting that she ought not to be wasted."
"It's rather rum that both our minds should be running on matrimony. I was trying to make up my mind to 'come along,' as you term it, and 'marry somebody.' I think it is time I settled down."
Jockie looked at him with round eyes.
"You're too young," she said, with her head in the air; "boys like you couldn't be trusted with wives. You would not know how to take care of them."
"Girls don't want to be taken care of nowadays," he retorted; "more's the pity. They're too independent to suit me. And you talk as if I'm intending to have a batch of wives. One would be quite enough for me."
Jockie's laugh rippled out. She leant over the side of the boat and let her hand trail in the water. She looked at him through half-shut eyes.
"Go on," she said. "Tell me about your future wife. What is she going to be like?"
But Austin was silent. He compressed his lips. Then he blurted out suddenly:
"If you don't think I would make a good husband, we'll change the subject."
"Oh, don't be sniffy. I think you have, as dear Cousin John would say, some valuable qualities. You are a gentleman, and have a gentleman's ideas of truth and honour. You wouldn't do a dirty trick to save your life; and you're quite intelligent. Your father says you are no fool; and you buck up when obstacles crop up and bar your path. You learn how to jump awkward banks in the hunting field, don't you? And you're not one of those who are always looking for the gates. I admire the way you have dismissed the agent and are doing his work yourself till you can find someone else."