Mr. Povey now blushed. “I haven’t exactly kissed her,” he stammered, apparently shocked by the inquisition. “No, I should not say that I had kissed her.”
It might have been that before committing himself he felt a desire for Mrs. Baines’s definition of a kiss.
“You are very extraordinary,” she said loftily. It was no less than the truth.
“All I want to know is—have you got anything against me?” he demanded roughly. “Because if so—”
“Anything against you, Mr. Povey? Why should I have anything against you?”
“Then why can’t we be engaged?”
She considered that he was bullying her. “That’s another question,” said she.
“Why can’t we be engaged? Ain’t I good enough?”
The fact was that he was not regarded as good enough. Mrs. Maddack had certainly deemed that he was not good enough. He was a solid mass of excellent qualities; but he lacked brilliance, importance, dignity. He could not impose himself. Such had been the verdict.
And now, while Mrs. Baines was secretly reproaching Mr. Povey for his inability to impose himself, he was most patently imposing himself on her—and the phenomenon escaped her! She felt that he was bullying her, but somehow she could not perceive his power. Yet the man who could bully Mrs. Baines was surely no common soul!