THE INDISCRETION OF THE MARCHIONESS
“I am perfectly certain,” Juliet declared, “that we ought not to be here.”
“That,” Aynesworth remarked, fanning himself lightly with his pocket handkerchief, “may account for the extraordinary sense of pleasure which I am now experiencing. At the same time, I can’t see why not.”
“I only met you this afternoon—a few hours ago. And here we are, absolutely wedged together on these seats—and my chaperon is dozing half the time.”
“Pardon me,” Aynesworth objected, “I knew you when you were a child.”
“For one day!”
“Nevertheless,” Aynesworth persisted, “the fact remains. If you date our acquaintance from this afternoon, I do not. I have never forgotten the little girl in short frocks and long black hair, who showed me where the seagulls built, and told me Cornish fairy stories.”
“It was a very long time ago,” she remarked.
“Four years,” he answered; “for you, perhaps, a long time, because you have changed from a child—into a woman. But for a man approaching middle age—as I am—nothing!”