“And when do you leave?”
“In a week.”
“So soon,” she exclaimed cheerfully; “I wonder what Cossie will say?”
“It is not of the slightest consequence what Cossie says; she has nothing to do with my plans.”
“Cossie won’t think so, and when she hears you have been promoted and are off to Burma, she will stick to you like a burr.”
“But, my dear mother, what is the use of her sticking to me?” protested Douglas. “I haven’t the faintest intention of being engaged to Cossie. If she imagines that I am in love with her, she is making the greatest mistake in her life.”
“Cossie is a foolish girl,” admitted her aunt, “and has made heaps of mistakes; but if she sees her way to bettering herself, she can be as determined as anyone. Of course you will have to run down and say ‘good-bye.’”
“Yes, I shall go to-morrow.”
“I must say I don’t envy you the visit!” declared his mother with a malicious smile.
“No, I daresay it will be disagreeable—but Aunt Emma will see me through. In Cossie’s case it is not a matter of deep attachment; she only wants to play me off against that fellow Soames. Ah, here is Michael jingling his tray outside; he wants to lay the cloth and we had better clear.”