"Go on: because what?" with gentle encouragement.
"Well, then, because I know she wants to marry you," says Monica, vehemently, but in a choked voice.
"What an extraordinary idea to come into your head!" says Desmond, in a choked tone also, but from a different emotion.
"What are you laughing at?" severely. "At me?"
"My darling, it seems so absurd, and——"
"I forbid you to laugh," in a tone replete with anger but highly suggestive of tears. "Don't do it."
"I'll never laugh again, my pet, if it offends you so dreadfully."
"But your eyes are laughing; I can see them. I can see a great deal more than you think, and I know that hateful girl has made up her mind to marry you as soon as ever she can."
"That will be never."
"Not if you go on bringing her roses and things."