‘Well,’ returned Meredith slowly, half-ready to retract what he had said, now that he had produced the desired effect, ‘perhaps I should hardly say “engaged,” because there has been no pledge asked or given on either side, as yet. I do not wish the quiet current of Roma’s young life disturbed, and your brother can afford to wait. But words have passed between him and me; I have read his inmost heart, and have found it loyal and true—as his father’s was before him; and now we understand one another, and he is prepared to abide by my wishes as to the time of probation.’
For by this time Michael Meredith had fully persuaded himself that the delay was of his own making, that the young man was eager and willing to come forward to claim Roma’s hand, but that he withheld him, in order that his daughter’s young heart should not be too early or too roughly awakened from its sleep of happy childhood. This Meredith fully believed, and Maud half-believed it too.
It was a good thing for Tor that Mr. Meredith had so deceived himself, as it had saved him from any further allusions to a subject not at all agreeable to him. Maud pondered awhile over these words, and finally said:
‘Is Roma so very young? I always thought her so wise for her age.’
‘Roma is twenty-five. She may be wise in some things, I do not deny it; in others, she is innocent as a child.’
‘Is she?’
‘Certainly. Have you not observed it for yourself?’ asked Meredith.
‘I don’t know. I have never thought Roma at all childish.’
‘She is a child in all matters that refer to the heart,’ said Michael Meredith, in his sententious way. ‘A child to love.’
‘Well, but is it not time——’ began Maud.