"That's true enough, but she's not going to be at the beck and call of Master Dick, as I told him."
"When?"
"When he came grumbling to me that Mab had refused him."
"He asked her to marry him?" I exclaimed.
Cannington nodded. "Dicky got so mad with the way in which Aunt Lucy talked that evening you were there, and with the way in which Marr seemed to be so sure of his ground, that he proposed the next day. Mab refused him at once, as he seemed to think he only to ask and to have. I told him it served him jolly well right, and that I admired Mab's spirit."
"So do I," was my hearty reply, "but I don't think Weston meant his offer to be taken in that light. He's a absent-minded man and--"
"Oh, hang it! a refusal will do him good," said Cannington crossly, "and perhaps he'll drop being such an ass. Of course he wants me to persuade Mab, but I told him I wouldn't lift a finger. Well, then, Vance, you see that Mab has lost both her lovers at once. Marr has sheered off--like his impudence, although I'm glad--and Dicky has been sent away with a flea in his ear, and serve him jolly well right."
"And how is Mabel?"
"As jolly as a sandboy, bless her, in spite of Aunt Lucy's nagging. I have asked her to come down to Murchester for a week. She can take rooms at the Lion Hotel, and collar some old woman as a chaperon. Then we can have a good time together. Come down also."
"No, boy. I must return to Burwain to-morrow."