“Seriously, I never see such a woman; seriously, I never enter such a home.”
“Patience, then; your time will come, and I hope it is at hand. Listen to me. It was only yesterday that I felt an indescribable longing to see you again,—to know your address that I might write to you; for yesterday, when a certain young lady left my house after a week’s visit, I said this girl would make a perfect wife, and, above all, the exact wife to suit Kenelm Chillingly.”
“Kenelm Chillingly is very glad to hear that this young lady has left your house.”
“But she has not left London: she is here to-night. She only stayed with me till her father came to town, and the house he had taken for the season was vacant; those events happened yesterday.”
“Fortunate events for me: they permit me to call on you without danger.”
“Have you no curiosity to know, at least, who and what is the young lady who appears to me so well suited to you?”
“No curiosity, but a vague sensation of alarm.”
“Well, I cannot talk pleasantly with you while you are in this irritating mood, and it is time to quit the hermitage. Come, there are many persons here, with some of whom you should renew old acquaintance, and to some of whom I should like to make you known.”
“I am prepared to follow Lady Glenalvon wherever she deigns to lead me,—except to the altar with another.”