‘Really? Will you give me a kiss first?’
‘Poor blubbery princess! Pah! your lips are like a baby’s. Now just listen, and mind you hold your tongue about what I say. You know there used to be something between Adela and Eldon. I’ve a notion it went farther than we know of. Well, I don’t see why we shouldn’t get her to talk him over into letting you keep your money, or a good part of it. So you see it’s you I’m thinking about after all, little stupid.’
‘Oh, you really mean that! Kiss me again—look, I’ve wiped my lips, You really think you can do that, Willis?’
‘No, I don’t think I can, but it’s worth having a try. Eldon has a soft side, I know. The thing is to find her soft side. I’m going to have a try to talk her over. Now, where is she likely to be?—out in the garden?’
‘Perhaps she’s at her mother’s.’
‘Confound it! Well, I’ll go and look about; I can’t lose time.’
‘You’ll never get her to do anything for me, Willis.’
‘Very likely not. But the things that you succeed in are always the most unlikely, as you’d understand if you’d lived my life.’
‘At all events, I shan’t have to give up my dresses?’
‘Hang your dresses—on the wardrobe pegs!’