"I do most earnestly," said the young man, "but——"
"But what?" growled Sir Joseph sternly.
"She now says she has no feeling whatever for me," Denis explained.
The baronet turned upon his secretary, scowled, and then regarded Mrs. Delarayne in astonishment. "No feeling whatever?" he repeated.
"Has she actually told you this?" Mrs. Delarayne demanded with tell-tale eagerness.
"Yes, this minute," Denis replied. "I can hardly believe it," he added with the usual ingenuousness of all vain people. "I can only think that a momentary infatuation for Lord Henry, who has spared no pains to——"
"Do you mean that you have asked her to marry you and she's refused?" Sir Joseph enquired, observing the young man's painful discomfiture.
"Yes, this very minute."
"Quite positively?" Mrs. Delarayne demanded.
"As far as I can make out—yes," Denis replied. He was so completely bewildered by the rebuff, that the incredulity of his two seniors made it seem all the more impossible to him.