‘Fail to crown his flame, and Jane has too much pride to welcome back the wanderer?’
‘I’m afraid that, or something like that, will be the end of it,’ said Merton, ‘and, perhaps, on reflection, we had better drop the affair.’
‘But suppose I could manage a happy ending? Suppose I reconcile Mr. Warren to the union? I am all for happy endings myself. I drink to King Charles II., who declared that while he was king all tragedies should end happily.’
‘You don’t mean that you can persuade Jane to be vaccinated?’
‘One never knows till one tries. You’ll find that I shall make a happy conclusion to my Borgia novel, and that is not so easy. You see Lionardo goes to the Pope’s jeweller and exchanges the—’
Miss Martin paused and remained absorbed in thought.
Suddenly she danced round the room with much grace and abandon, while Merton, smoking in an arm-chair that had lost a castor, gently applauded the performance.
‘You have your idea?’ he asked.
‘I have it. Happy ending! Hurrah!’
Miss Martin spun round like a dancing Dervish, and finally fell into another arm-chair, overcome by the heat and the intoxication of genius.