“Exceedingly! That is exactly why I shall do the books and then take no money.”
“Your princess is rather clever!” the fiddler exclaimed, in a moment, smiling.
“Well, she can’t force me to take it if I won’t,” said Hyacinth.
“No; you must only let me do that.”
“You have curious ideas about me,” the young man declared.
Mr Vetch turned about to the window again, remarking that he had curious ideas about everything. Then he added, after an interval—
“And have you been making love to your great lady?”
He had expected a flash of impatience in reply to this inquiry, and was rather surprised at the manner in which Hyacinth answered: “How shall I explain? It is not a question of that sort.”
“Has she been making love to you, then?”
“If you should ever see her you would understand how absurd that supposition is.”