"No, no," she answered laughingly. "I wager anything you won't."
"But I shall have no chance of being unfaithful to you."
She looked at him astonished. "How do you mean? For what reason?"
"For the simplest of all reasons—you will come with me."
"George!" Laughing and crying with joy, she flung her arms round his neck. "You will take me with you? I shall see Paris or some other beautiful town? George, you are really too good and kind," and she kissed him again and again. Suddenly she stopped.
"What is the matter with you?"
"I cannot go with you."
"Why ever not?"
"You shall not be able to say that I persuaded you into taking a holiday for my own advantage; besides, I do not know if I can get permission to go."
"The first reason is absurd," he said. "I am not so sure if it will be a pleasure to come with me, but you give me great happiness by your company. Nothing is more unpleasant, at least to me, than to travel alone, to sit in a carriage by oneself, to have meals alone, to wander through the museums and galleries alone, and to have no one with whom one can discuss things. There will be no difficulty about getting permission; just now you are not very busy at the theatre."