“Well, Bob, the Aged Soul is right—so I am!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Ha, you were already aware o’ this incredible fact?”
“I sur-mised same, sir.”
“You see, Bob, I intend to marry her.”
The Corporal was, and actually looked, startled.
“Marry her!” he repeated in a strangled voice. “Your honour!... Marry her!”
“Indeed, Bob, I intend to marry and settle down at High Dering at last, unless—aye, unless the Fateful Sisters see fit to cut short the thread o’ my existence.”
“God forbid, sir!”
“Amen, Bob. And yet the world would wag as merrily without me.... Do you believe in presentiments, Bob?”