“Well, then,” said he, “I do say it, and I suppose that means I must urge you no more about poor Talboys.”
A shower of kisses descended upon him that moment. Moral: Lose no time in sealing a good bargain.
“Come, now, Lucy, you must do me a favor.”
“Oh, thank you! thank you! what is it?”
“Ah! but it is about Talboys too.”
“Never mind,” faltered Lucy, “if it is anything short of—” (full stop).
“It is a long way short of that. Look here, Lucy, I must tell you the truth. He intends to ask your hand himself: he confided this to me, but he never authorized me to commit him as I have done, so that this conversation cannot be acted on: it must be a secret between you and me.”
“Oh, dear! and I thought I had got rid of him so nicely.”
“Don't be alarmed,” groaned Fountain; “such matches as this can always be dropped; the difficulty is to bring them on. All I ask of you, then, is not to make mischief between me and my friend, the proudest man in England. If you don't value his friendship, I do. You must not let him know I have got him insulted by a refusal. For instance, you had better go out sailing with him to-morrow as if nothing had passed. Will your affection for me carry you as far as that?”
The proposal was wormwood to Lucy. So she smiled and said eagerly: “Is that all? Why, I will do it with pleasure, dear. It is not like being in the same boat with him for life, you know. Can you give me nothing more than that to do for you?”