"No, but really, Ben, I asked Betty this morning, and it's all right."
"My dear old man," said Dizzy, grasping him warmly by the hand, while a bright smile lit up his ingenuous features, "I couldn't have been better pleased if I'd done it myself!"
CHAPTER XVI
THIRD TRINITY MAKES A BUMP
There never was such a little man as Mr. Binney for getting knocked down flat and picking himself up again as cocky as ever. Lucius's announcement of his engagement to his cousin Betty brought him to his feet as pompous as if he had never been fined by a Proctor or rebuked by a Dean.
"I never heard of such a thing," he said indignantly. "Getting engaged to be married at your age! Why, it's ridiculous. I won't have it. That's flat."
"What won't you have, father?" asked Lucius. "You can't stop my being engaged to her, you know. That's over and done with."
"It is not over and done with, sir," said Mr. Binney. "The engagement, if there is one, must be broken off."
"Why?" asked Lucius.