"Plighted!" murmured Lady Collum, dreamily. "What a beautiful word it might be! Can be. Why, my dear, don't you marry some nice man instead of opening offices?"
"Well, aunt, for one reason, no one that I cared for sufficiently has asked me," said Ben smiling.
"Then you have had a proposal or two?" said Lady Collum, eagerly. "I'm glad."
"Not very serious ones," Ben told her. "Only from Tommy Clinton."
"Oh, him!" said Aunt Agatha. "And yet you're very pretty," she went on. "What's the matter with the other young men? Let's see, how old are you?"
"Twenty-two," said Ben.
"That's a little late for the young ones," said Lady Collum, "or much too early. Hasn't any nice older man asked you?"
"No, aunt," said Ben, "and I don't know that I want one either. Marriage isn't everything. I can imagine an amusing business being far more entertaining than a husband. But surely you see," she went on more seriously, "that now that father's married again I must be independent. I can't possibly go on living at home."
"Ah, yes," said Lady Collum. "Of course. Poor child, yes. The cruel and ugly stepmother, my heart bleeds for you."