Comforted in a measure by the good nature of his friend, Roseleaf proceeded to give the outlines of what had occurred, suppressing the more intimate facts with which the luckier reader is acquainted. He admitted the touch of hands, but did not mention the pressure of lips to lips. He told of the girl's swoon, but said nothing of the extraordinary measures adopted to bring her to her senses. But, while he made no insinuations, nor pretended to see through the meshes in this net, the experience of Mr. Weil served him in good stead. He could fill in the vacant places in the story with substantial correctness.
"I don't know what Miss Millicent will say to all this," he remarked, when the recital came to a pause.
"I think she was just beginning to like you a little herself. Most of our talk last evening was about you, and when I mentioned, as I took my leave, that you were probably out walking with Daisy, I could see distinct traces of jealousy. I want to be fair with my client. I told her that you came there to learn love from her, not from her little sister. If all this should result in breaking her heart, I don't see how I could excuse myself. And the other one, she seems such a child, I never thought of her in that connection. Why, how old is she—not over eighteen, I think."
Roseleaf answered that Daisy would be nineteen on her next birthday, an ingenious way of stating age that was not original with him.
"All right," said Archie, digesting this statement slowly. "And now, what is your programme?"
Roseleaf looked surprised at the business-like nature of the question.
"I mean to secure her consent to marry me, as soon as possible," he said.
"And then?"
"Why, see her father, I suppose. Isn't that the most important thing to do?"