"I will not," Mr. Grex replied firmly.
"Why not? Please tell me why not?" Richard begged. "I am not asking for anything more now than just an opportunity to talk with her."
"It is not a matter which admits of discussion," Mr. Grex pronounced. "I have permitted you to say what you wished, notwithstanding the colossal, the unimaginable impertinence of your suggestion. I request you to leave me now and I advise you most heartily to indulge no more in the most preposterous and idiotic idea which ever entered into the head of an apparently sane young man."
Richard rose slowly to his feet.
"Very well, sir," he replied, "I'll go. All the same, what you have said doesn't make any difference."
"Does not make any difference?" Mr. Grex repeated, with arched eyebrows.
"None at all," Richard declared. "I don't know what your objection to me is, but I hope you'll get over it some day. I'd like to make friends with you. Perhaps, later on, you may look at the matter differently."
"Later on?" Mr. Grex murmured.
"When I have married your daughter," Richard concluded, marching defiantly away.
Mr. Grex watched the young man until he had disappeared in the crowd. Then he leaned hack amongst the cushions of the divan with folded arms. Little lines had become visible around his eyes, there was a slight twitching at the corners of his lips. He looked like a man who was inwardly enjoying some huge joke.