"A hint! Man! how many hints have I given you?"
"A dev—I mean a great many," returned the consistent Mr. Lighton. "But I thought you were trying to draw me on."
"I have no talents for man-hunting," said Lynn, rather crossly. "I never try to 'draw people on' or anything like that. It does not amuse me: I'm a man's woman in one sense but I am not a flirt"——
"Flirt! You can't flirt any more tha—than that mantelpiece," said Mr. Lighton, desperately. "But I like you—I can't help liking you, some way."
"No—I suppose you can't—not just at present, anyway. But you'll get over it in time."
Mr. Lighton said nothing, but his face was not cheerful.
"I have a good mind," said Lynn, slowly, "to tell you something about myself—something that will show you the hopelessness of asking me. It is this: even if I liked you very much I couldn't marry you."
"But why?"
"Because—because I have a duty to perform; a duty which demands all my time and strength and—and thought; and which marriage would interfere with."
"But—but do you mean that you are going to perform this duty—whatever it may be—all your life?"