"Something tells me that you are--and with Gwen. But if you are already engaged, or if there is any other girl in the question, I tell you, young man, that I won't have it. Gwen is much too good a girl to be trifled with."
"Oh, I assure you, I am not going to trifle with her."
"Good. If you do, you'll have me to reckon with," said the old woman grimly. "I am quite Norse enough to twist your neck if you repeat in your own person the very objectionable character of your father. Tell me plump and plain, if you please: do you love Gwen?"
"I think so."
"Think so! Then you don't love her. No man worth a woman's affection can be in doubt on that point."
"Well, you see, I'm a bit of an ass as regards women," confessed Hench, flustered by her imperious insistence. "I have never been in love before."
"All the better!" cried Mrs. Perage sharply. "But I thought I was."
"Hum! Well, and why not; one must gain experience. How many times?"
"Once only. I admired this girl but she loved another man, so I went away."
"Hum!" said Mrs. Perage once more. "Is your heart broken?"