"No. He's a good boy, but it's not him."
"Ah! That's a pity."
Another pause. Lottie sat very still. She understood now why the idea of marrying the Honourable had become suddenly repugnant to her. The reason was sitting beside her, wondering what the reason could be. Lottie excelled in woman's favourite pastime—playing with fire—but this time she had burnt her fingers.
Pip talked to her a good deal during the next half-hour. Once he said,—
"I wonder what made you confide in me about all this. I expect it was because you spotted that I was a kindred spirit—in the same state as yourself."
"What state?"
"In love," said Pip simply.
"In love? Who with?" asked Lottie, ungrammatically but earnestly.
"I'll tell you if you like," said Pip. He launched into a description of Elsie, reciting his hopes and fears with all the complete abandon of the reticent man when once he lets himself go.
"It isn't often," he concluded, descending to earth again, "that I reveal my feelings to anybody. But I suppose things are rather out of the common to-day."