“It is my particular wish that you pay her special attention,” she continued calmly, “with a view to an early and suitable marriage. Now don’t make up your mind against it straightway. It will be an admirable thing for you, and I’ve set my heart on it.”
He laughed outright.
“Oh, you woman!” he said. “You inveterate matchmaker! If your girl is all you profess, why can’t you find her some one younger and more human? As my wife, she would have the devil of a time—you know she would.”
“I think you are rather severe in your judgment of yourself,” she returned imperturbably. “You are quite agreeable. And you could provide handsomely for a woman, and—other things.”
“Oh, yes; fourteen of them, if necessary,” he returned sarcastically. “But I don’t want them, really. I should feel horribly embarrassed with them.”
“Oh, you would get over that!” she answered easily. “You mustn’t think so much of yourself.”
He got up and passed round to the back of her chair and laid his two hands on her shoulders.
“You scheming little fiend!” he said. “You have had this in your mind all along when you have asked me repeatedly to come down.”
“I have always wanted you to marry,” she allowed, smiling up at him. “You will make a delightful husband.”
“Well, I’m not going to marry,” he said. “If you air any more of your matrimonial plans, I’ll make love to you. I’ll wreck your home.”