“By no means, my dear Percy. This, I will say, that she is refined, accomplished, amiable——”
“And quiet in single or double—especially double—harness?”
“In sporting parlance, my dear Percy, that exactly describes my charming ward.”
The young man took a turn up and down the room, and then, resuming his old attitude, looked down upon the smooth face of the tempter with a curious and half-troubled regard.
“You don’t offer me a penny for my thoughts, Churchill, and so I’ll just make you a present of them. I am wondering—what—the—devil—you are going to gain in this business. Wait a moment. You come here and offer this young girl to me—is she young, by the way?”
Spenser Churchill nodded and smiled.
“To me—a penniless man, without position or anything else that makes a man eligible for a husband——”
“You forget your youth and good looks—your undoubted talents, dear Percy,” murmured the philanthropist.
“A most undesirable match in every way,” went on the other, taking no notice of this interpolation. “Why do you do it? Of course, you have some game——”
“My dear Percy!”