"I shall go down there again, in a fortnight or so."
"Would you be disposed to take me with you?"
"Certainly I shall, if you will go. I had not thought of asking you, because everything must go on quietly there, for a time; but really I should prize your company very much."
"Well, the fact is," Hallett said, rather shamefacedly, "I am rather smitten with Miss Merton, and I have some hopes that she is a little taken with me. I heard that she has money but, although that is satisfactory, I would take her, if she would have me, without a penny. You know I have three hundred pounds a year of my own; which is quite enough, with my pay, to enable us to get on comfortably. Still, I won't say that, if she has as much more, we could not do things better."
Lisle laughed.
"I thought you were not a marrying man, Hallett! In fact, you have more than once told me so."
"Well, I didn't think I was," Hallett admitted, "but you see, circumstances alter cases."
"They do, Hallett, and your case seems to be a bad one. However, old man, I wish you luck. She is an exceedingly nice girl and, if I were ten years older, I might have been smitten myself; and then, you know, your chance would have been nowhere."
"I quite feel that," Hallett said; "a V.C. is a thing no girl can stand against.
"If you will take me, I will go down with you and stay a little time, and then try my luck."