“I am not sure that does not aggravate the case, by rendering it more conspicuous.”
“You turn and twist every argument I bring forward so as to make it serve your cause,” she said resentfully. “It is no use my trying to have an opinion of my own.”
“That is just what I am trying to persuade you, Gwen,” he said, drawing her to him in spite of her struggles. “You shall have your own way as much as is good for you after we are married; but now I want mine. Don’t be so impracticable, darling,” he added, in his coaxing voice. “You know what I demand is ‘just, expedient, and right.’”
“I know it is very tiresome to be hurried,” she said, by way of showing that she had still a few objections in reserve.
“But you sha’n’t be hurried, dearest. Listen to my program. This evening you will go to Mrs. Venable, in Park Lane.”
“How do you know she will receive me?”
“I have already asked her the question, and received a satisfactory reply,” said Colonel Dacre quietly. “I never let the grass grow under my feet when I have work to do that should be done quickly.”
“But what made you think of Mrs. Venable?”
“For two or three reasons. As your former governess I thought she would be a suitable person. And then I knew you liked her, and would prefer to be married from her house.”
“Then I should have to stay there a fortnight,” said Lady Gwendolyn, with a little air of triumph, for she thought she was going to demolish the gallant colonel’s program.