"Not—" began Sir John, hesitatingly.
"Nonsense!" I replied. "You, too, will have the same experience fifty times again before you are my age."
"But the lady," said Sir John, "tell me of her. Will you—can you present me to her? If not, will you tell me who she is?"
I remained for a moment in thought, wondering if it were right for me to tell him that the girl whom he so much admired was the daughter of his father's enemy. I could see no way of keeping Dorothy's name from him, so I determined to tell him.
"She is my cousin, Mistress Dorothy Vernon," I said. "The eldest is Lady Dorothy Crawford. The beautiful, pale girl I do not know."
"I am sorry," returned Sir John; "she is the lady whom you have come to marry, is she not?"
"Y-e-s," said I, hesitatingly.
"You certainly are to be congratulated," returned Manners.
"I doubt if I shall marry her," I replied.
"Why?" asked Manners.