“Please,” said Charlie. “Whisper it in my ear,” and he offered his head in fitting proximity.
“I shouldn’t mind who heard,” she declared. “I despise you, Mr. Ellerton.”
Charlie was roused to a protest.
“For downright unfairness give me a girl!” said he. “Here have I taken the manly course! After a short period of weakness—I admit that—I have conquered my feelings; I have determined not to distress Miss Travers by intruding upon her; I have overcome the promptings of a cowardly despair; I have turned my back resolutely on a past devoid of hope. I am, after a sore struggle, myself again. And my reward, Miss Bellairs, is to be told that you despise me. Upon my honor, you’ll be despising Simon Stylites next.”
“And you wrote and told Miss Travers you were coming!”
“All right. I shall write and toll her I’m not coming. I shall say, Miss Bellairs, that it seems to me to be an undignified thing——”
“To do what I’m going to do? Thank you, Mr. Ellerton.”
“Oh, I forgot.”
“The irony of it is that you persuaded me to do it yourself.”
“I was a fool; but I didn’t know you so well then.”