"That's an engagement that will never come to anything, then."
"How do you know?"
"Because long engagements seldom do—and no man, to my fancy, has a right to tie a girl down to such horrible agreements."
"It can't be helped, Maurice," said Sid, a little sadly.
"I'd start in some business. Are you too proud for trade?"
"I don't care about retail—selling ha'porths of something across the counter, wearing white aprons, and so on," replied Sidney; "it's very wrong of me, but it's the Hinchford pride that bars the way, I suppose."
"Try wholesale on a small scale, as a start—the old tea business, for instance."
"Don't you think that I am fit for this, Mr. Maurice?"
"Yes, but it takes time to rise, and you mean marrying. Now, to my fancy, you are a man who would do better in commerce."
"Ah! but then there's capital to sink by way of a beginning."