‘She’s likely to shine in society? She is a brilliant girl, full of tact and insight?’
‘Scarcely all that, perhaps.’
He looked dubiously at his companion.
‘Then you have abandoned your old ambitions?’ Amy pursued.
‘Not a bit of it. I am on the way to achieve them.’
‘And Marian is the ideal wife to assist you?’
‘From one point of view, yes. Pray, why all this ironic questioning?’
‘Not ironic at all.’
‘It sounded very much like it, and I know from of old that you have a tendency that way.’
‘The news surprised me a little, I confess. But I see that I am in danger of offending you.’