"And you are—how old?"
"Thirty-two."
"It sounds as if this were the real thing, I must say," she said, with a smile.
"There is not much doubt of that," said he quietly. "There never was any one more certain than I am of what I want."
"That is a step towards getting it," Lady Gore said.
"I believe it is," he said fervently. "You have told me all the things your daughter has not—that I am thankful she hasn't—but I know, besides, the things she has that go to make her the only woman I want to pass my life with—she is everything a woman ought to be—she really is."
"My dear young friend," said Lady Gore, with a shallow pretence of laughing at his enthusiasm, "you really are rather far gone!"
"Yes," said Rendel, "there is no doubt about that. I have not, by the way, attempted to tell you about things that are supposed to matter more than those we have been talking about, but that don't matter really nearly so much—I mean my income and prospects, and all that sort of thing. But perhaps I had better tell Sir William all that."
"You can tell him about your income," said Lady Gore, "if you like."