Susie felt her heart softening, for she liked that line, too.
"I don't believe you deserve the adjectives,'' she said.
"Do you not?" he asked, eagerly, with brightened eyes.
"And I should like to meet your aunt," she continued, hastily.
"So you shall, most certainly," he assented, instantly. "As soon as it can be arranged."
"Oh, does it have to be arranged?" inquired Susie, in some dismay.
"Not in that sense—she is very democratic—she likes people for what they are. But until this question of the succession is concluded you will readily understand that, through anxiety, she is not in the best of humours—not quite herself."
"Is she, then, here?" asked Susie.
"Here? Oh, no; she is at Markheim—at the post of duty. That is another reason—until this affair is settled, I cannot ask her to join me here."
"You will ask her to do that?"