"Yes, certainly. What would be the use of telling me anything else? I should know if your fibbed."
"I really believe you would."
"Why, of course I should. What are a woman's wits for, anyhow?"
"The carriage is at the door," said a servant, entering.
"Very well. Let it wait. Now, Guilford Duncan, go on and tell me."
"Well, the fact is, that I have not been in a position to ask Barbara to accept my escort to public places."
"Why not? Is it because of this Tandy affair?"
"Then what? Go on, and don't make me pump the information out of you, as if you were a well or a leaky barge."
"The fact is," Duncan spoke very seriously now, "that a little while ago I was betrayed by own emotions into declaring my love for Barbara, much sooner than I had intended—before she was prepared to hear it."