“Ah,” said Ledward, “I’m a sober fellow and I have got an awkward antagonist. Kit is fantastic and elusive; but your charm is, you are flesh and blood. You cannot go where Kit goes; he’d lead you into a bog. We are sober people and we need much Kit thinks of no account; for example, money, proper food, fashionable clothes, and houses like our host’s——”
He indicated the spacious, panelled hall, and Evelyn heard the violins and the beat of dancing feet. She knew Harry’s argument was sound, but her eyes sparkled.
“My ambition’s not altogether mean. And if I do like pretty clothes and beautiful houses, I could go without.”
“You’re a darling!” Ledward declared. “For all that, we live in a modern, materialistic world, and Kit, so to speak, does not.”
“There’s another thing,” Evelyn resumed. “Your present is beautiful, but when you sent it you thought you would force me—— Kit would not have used your plan.”
“It’s possible. Perhaps I was shabby; but when I weighed all I risked, my pluck vanished. I thought, if you were very kind, you might make a sign——Well, you wear my gift. Will you marry me, Evelyn?”
“At the beginning you inquired when I would marry you, and now you’re modest I like you better,” Evelyn rejoined. “I don’t know, Harry. If you urge me, I must refuse——”
She stopped, for a young man crossed the floor. “Sorry I didn’t find you,” he said in an apologetic voice. “The band has played the best half of our dance.”
“Then we mustn’t miss the other half,” Evelyn replied, and giving Ledward a smile, went off.