He threw himself back with a sudden wail.

“To both!” he cried; “to both!”

He was himself again directly.

“Bah!” he cried; “what a woman I am! Renny, you shall for once find me sick of philosophy and human.”

I resumed my seat, fairly dumfounded at this revelation of unwonted depths in my friend, and stared at him in silence; once more he leaned forward and seemed to read me through.

“Renny, tell me—do you wish to make Dolly your wife?”

“Duke, upon my soul I don’t know.”

“Do you love her?”

“If I thought I did, as you meant it, I could answer your first question.”

“And you can’t?”