“No; it’s not debt. I thought it was at first, but it appears I was wrong.”
“He didn’t drink,” said Mr. Goddard, “that ever I heard of. Besides, even if he did, that would be no reason for bolting. Whisky’s as plenty here as anywhere in the world.”
“No; it’s not drink. Try the other thing. There’s only one more. ‘Love, or debt, or whisky’—you know the old saying. If it isn’t either of the last two, it must be the first.”
“Love!” said Mr. Goddard.
“Precisely.”
“But, hang it all! Miss Blow’s quite ready to marry him.”
“Too ready,” said Lord Manton; “that’s my point.”
Mr. Goddard thought hard for a couple of minutes.
“Do you mean to suggest,” he said at last, “that he’s run away from her?”
“In the absence of any other conceivable reason for his bolting,” said Lord Manton, “I am unwillingly driven to the conclusion that he wants to escape from Miss Blow.”