"Do," he begged.
"Well, in the first place," she continued, "I should refuse to be a 'chattel.'"
"Oh I say——" he began. But she went on, unheeding his expostulation:
"Then my husband couldn't beat me, not even once, though the law allows it."
"What do you take us for?" he exclaimed.
"Then," she proceeded, "he would have to love me better than his horses and his dogs."
"Oh I say! Mabel," he burst out, teased beyond all limits of endurance, "don't chaff me; I'm awfully in earnest, you know, and if you will accept what little I have to offer—three thousand a year, and 'The Towers,' now poor Bob's gone——" He paused, but she made no answer, only he noticed that all of a sudden she had become very serious.
"Lady Mary, my mother, you know, would of course leave the place to you at once, but there's no title; my father was only a knight. I'm sorry——"
"Oh," she replied, "I wouldn't have married you if you had had one; quite enough of my countrywomen have made fools of themselves on that account."
"Then you will marry me!" he cried, and sprang towards her.