"Asking me why the deuce I didn't marry you."
"Is that what you call talking sense? Sir Evelyn couldn't have said that?"
"He did. He put it to me at the point of the bayonet. I can't remember his exact words, but what they amounted to was this: If I didn't marry you, he would. Now what do you say to that?"
"I say that you've got an extraordinarily inventive mind. Also that you oughtn't to tell lies about your uncle."
"It's not a lie," said Jimmy, "though I admit it's not the whole truth. The suggestion was that I should marry either you or Mary and that he'd marry the other, or rather that he'd marry one of you and I'd marry the other. I give you my solemn word of honour that that's what passed between us last night after you'd gone to bed."
"You give me your solemn word of honour that Sir Evelyn suggested——"
"As a matter of actual fact," said Jimmy, "the suggestion came from me. But Uncle Evie quite fell in with it. Quite. He hadn't a word to say against it."
"Very well," said Beth, "I'll marry your Uncle Evie as soon as he asks me, and then you can marry Mary if she'll have you, which she probably won't. So now that's settled."
"Very well. I'll give you a wedding present and all that. But now what about marrying me after Uncle Evie dies? I don't want him to die, for he's always been very decent to me. Still, nobody lives for ever, and he's well over sixty. What do you say to that?"
"If I'm ever left a widow and you're a widower about the same time—don't forget you promised to marry Mary—I'll marry you. Will that satisfy you?"