"I sha'n't. Why should I?"
"Because I am engaged to her."
"You!" Mrs. Rover started to her feet in delighted amazement. "But Ned?"
"Ned's engagement was merely an official one to prevent Jadby——"
"Oh yes, yes! I know all about that; but I didn't believe that Ned was speaking the truth. I thought that he was throwing me over for that horrid girl. No, no! Don't look at me like that. She isn't a horrid girl now that she is engaged to you. I shall love Lady Prelice much more than I loved Mona Chent. Engaged—engaged!" Mrs. Rover made a ball of her handkerchief, and tossed it in the air. "What a rage Lady Sophia will be in."
"She is in it already," said Prelice dryly. "I don't care."
"Of course you don't. You're a man—a man. Oh, how I love a man. Not that my married life gives me any experience," she ended bitterly.
"Constance," said Prelice seriously, "sit down, and let us talk quietly about your married life."
"I don't wish to talk of it," she retorted, but nevertheless took the seat he pointed to.
"You must. I am your friend, as you very truly say——"