Without answering, she immediately came over the wet grass to the window.
"I have something to say to you," he said, "and I don't want to keep you standing in the rain. Won't you come inside for a few minutes?"
"No, thank you," said she. "I don't mind a slight rain like this. I have lived so long in the city that I can't imagine how country people can bear to shut themselves in, when it happens to be a little wet. I can't stand it, and I am going out for a walk." "It is a very sensible thing to do," said Lawrence, "and I wish I could go with you and have a good long talk."
"What about?" said she.
"About Miss March."
"Well, I am rather tired of that subject," she said, "and so I reckon it is just as well that you should stay here by your fire—I see you have one there—and that I should take my walk by myself."
"Mrs Null," said Lawrence, "I want to implore you to do a favor for me. I don't see how it can be disagreeable to you, and I am sure it will confer the greatest possible obligation upon me."
"What is it?" she asked.
"I want you to go to Miss March, and endeavor, in some way—you will know how, better than I can tell you—to induce her to let me have a few words with her. If it is only here at this open window it will do."
Mrs Null laughed. "Imagine," she said, "a woman putting on a waterproof and overshoes, and coming out in the rain, to stand with an umbrella over her head, to be proposed to! That would be the funniest proceeding I ever heard of!"