"Which is for sale to the highest bidder. See here, Conny----"
"Conny?" Maunders lifted his eyebrows. "I thought you barred pet names?"
"I am appealing, not to the man-of-the-world, but to my old schoolfellow, if you put it in that way. See here, I love Lucy Corsoon, and, if you would only clear out of the gangway, she would really love me. She does--I have seen it in many ways."
"Bosh! If she really loved you she wouldn't listen to me."
"I don't know. You have good looks and a kind of magnetic power which influences women against their will: hard women of the world, too, much less an innocent girl such as Lucy is. It's a great power to have, and you make bad use of it."
"Just because I happen to cross your track. Thanks."
"Oh, hang your dodging. I came here to receive a plain answer to a plain question. Are you going to marry Miss Corsoon or Miss Dimsdale?"
"I haven't made up my mind."
"You would if Miss Dimsdale would listen to you," snarled Vernon. "If I asked her to be my wife she would accept at once," retorted Maunders.
"No, she wouldn't. Your aunt told me that she had lost all love for you since the death of her father."