“Yes, my dear executor,” said the young man laughing. “I am sorry to be such a nuisance to you, but I am growing impatient.”
“Very well, sir; very well; and so am I; and as you have called this morning, let me tell you that you have rewarded my friendly disposition towards you by taking a mean advantage and going down to The Mynns, again and again, like a spy upon the camp.”
“Gently, my dear sir, gently. I confess to going down to The Mynns partly by design, but it was by accident I met Miss Bellwood.”
“Accident?” exclaimed the old lawyer.
“Yes, sir, accident; and even if it had not been, please have a little mercy. Put yourself in my place. I came over here eager to succeed to my estate, and to see the lady I was to marry. I saw her and I need not say was charmed with my grandfather’s choice. There, I say it openly, I love her as the sweetest, most innocent girl I ever met; but instead of all going well, I am greeted as an impostor, and told that the young lady betrothed to me is engaged to another gentleman, my alter ego.”
“Yes, yes, yes; we know all that, sir, ad nauseum,” cried the old lawyer.
“Humph! quotation for quotation,” muttered Doctor Lawrence.
“You must wait, sir. You must wait.”
“My dear Hampton,” said the doctor, “don’t you think that we might sympathise a little more with our young friend?”
“I do not acknowledge that this gentleman is our friend,” said the lawyer sternly.