“Asking you about your intentions? Oh I don’t dislike it at all!” she cried. “It amuses me extremely.”
“Should you like your sister to marry me?” asked Jackson with great simplicity.
If he expected to take her by surprise he was disappointed: she was perfectly prepared to commit herself. “I should like it particularly. I think English and American society ought to be but one. I mean the best of each. A great whole.”
“Will you allow me to ask whether Lady Marmaduke suggested that to you?” he at once inquired.
“We’ve often talked of it.”
“Oh yes, that’s her aim.”
“Well, it’s my aim too. I think there’s a lot to be done.”
“And you’d like me to do it?”
“To begin it, precisely. Don’t you think we ought to see more of each other? I mean,” she took the precaution to explain, “just the best in each country.”
Jackson Lemon appeared to weigh it. “I’m afraid I haven’t any general ideas. If I should marry an English girl it wouldn’t be for the good of the species.”