“I must in future decline advising,” replied Hamilton; “my confession just now was in fact tantamount to an acknowledgment of my incapacity to do so.”
“Ah, bah!” cried Zedwitz, “your manner has convinced me that your love is not very deep-rooted—my fears are more for her than for you. If she once liked you, and confessed it, there is no saying how serious the affair might become.”
“Very true,” said Hamilton, “you might in that case prepare for a voyage to the moon, where you would be sure to find my senses in a little phial, nicely corked and labelled.”
“Pshaw! Tell me seriously, what would you do in such a case?”
“Seriously—I believe I should act like a fool. Apply to my father with the certainty of being refused, and laughed at into the bargain—write to my Uncle Jack, that he might have time to make a new will and disinherit me—and then, perhaps, enter into a seven years’ engagement.”
“Hildegarde would never consent to anything so absurd.”
“Not at present—but I thought you supposed her to return my——”
“Hang the supposition!” cried Zedwitz, impatiently, and they walked on in silence until Zedwitz again spoke: “I wish, Hamilton, that at least you would promise to tell me if ever you do enter into any kind of engagement with Hildegarde.”
“No,” said Hamilton, firmly, “I will make no such promise. Let us start fair, we both love her, each after his own manner. I will be honourable, and tell you that you stand high in her estimation, and that the fear of the opposition of your family, and not indifference on her part, caused her former refusal. I have had to combat with her personal dislike, and if I have overcome it, a very lukewarm kind of regard has taken place. To counterbalance your advantages, I live in the same house, and see her daily—hourly—often alone.”
“Let us start fair in good earnest,” cried Zedwitz, eagerly, “but in order to do so, you must establish yourself in my quarters. The rooms which belong to my father when he is in town are at your service; neither he nor my mother comes to Munich this season, as Agnes’s marriage takes place before the carnival. We will live together—visit the Rosenbergs together, and at the end of two or three months write a letter to Hildegarde, and——”