"Certainly, if you wish it."
"Yesterday, Lord Maltravers called upon me and did me the honor to ask for my hand."
Jack's heart fluttered a little, for this was more than he had ever dared to do.
"What answer did you give him?" he inquired.
"The same that I have given to others before him."
"And that is—?"
"Simply, that I have promised my parents that I will neither engage myself to, or marry any one, until I am twenty-one. Thereupon, he most unjustifiably made use of your name."
"My name!"
"He said that he knew you were his rival, and that I had refused him on your account; he added that he would soon remove you from his path and then he would urge his suit again."
Jack Harkaway was astonished at this revelation.