"Thank you, Nancy. And so Mrs. Ffinch is law-maker, the local dictator, and match-maker?"
"Yes. She is immensely proud of the Meach affair; but not so proud of Fred Pollard's match. She married him off to a girl who was most unsuitable—so much so, that Fred fled to Ceylon, and the Pollards are not very good friends with Finchie! She does not wish Ted to marry Jessie Hicks; for then Nicky would have to move out of The Corner, and he might take it into his head, to run away with Nellie—and she has magnificent plans for her."
"Wheels within wheels," exclaimed Mayne. "It strikes me all the same, that these young people are not desperately in love; if they were, they'd never take all this so tamely, or so to speak, lying down."
"Well you see, they are all very busy one way or another, and have no time. When they do meet at tennis, Finchie mixes the sets, and sorts them out, as you saw!"
"Yes, I saw; but I must confess I did not notice the usual interesting signs of mutual attachment."
"No? What are the signs?"
"I don't know much about it, but sitting in one another's pockets, holding one another's hands, and obviously wishing us all at Jericho."
"Yes. Haven't you been in love yourself? You must—you are getting on!"
"Getting on, you rude child! Why, I'm only seven and twenty. As to being in love—no, never what you may call, seriously."
"Seriously?"