“Sir Denzil!”
“Yes, ma mie, Sir Denzil! Ventregris, the girl stares as if I had said Sir Bevis of Southampton, or Sir Guy of Warwick! I knew this young gentleman’s father before the troubles—an honest man, though he took the wrong side He paid for his perversity with his life; so we’ll say requiescat. The young man is a fine young man, whom I would fain have something nearer to me than he is. So at a hint from your sister I have asked him to bring his fishing tackle and whip our streams for a May trout or two. He may catch a finer fish than trout, perhaps, while he is a-fishing; if you will be his guide through the meadows.”
“Father, how could you——”
“Ah! thou art a sly one, fair mistress. Who was it told me there was no one? ‘No one, dear father, and indeed, sir, I was thinking of the convent when you came to London,’ while here was as handsome a spark as one would meet in a day’s march, sighing and dying for you.”
“Father, I do protest to you——” she began, with a pale distressed look that vouched for her earnestness; but the Knight had his face in the tankard, and set it down only to pursue his own train of thought.
“If it had not have been for that little bird at Chilton you might have hoodwinked me as blind as ever gerfalcon was hooded. Well, the young man will be here before evening. I would not force your inclinations, but it is the dearest desire of my heart to see you happily married before I blow out the candle, and bid my last good night. And a man of honour, handsome and of handsomest fortune, is not to be slighted.”
Angela’s spirit rose against this recurrence of her sister’s sermon.
“If Sir Denzil is coming to this house as my suitor, I will go to Louvain without an hour’s delay that I can help,” she said resolutely.
“Why, what a vixen! Nay, dearest, there is no need for that angry flush. The young man is too courteous to plague you with unwelcome civilities. I saw him in London at the tennis court, and was friendly to him for his father’s memory, knowing nothing of his desire to be my son-in-law. He is a fine player at that royal game, and a fine man. He comes here this evening as my friend; and if you please to treat him disdainfully, I cannot help it. But, indeed, I wonder as much as your sister why you should not reciprocate this gentleman’s love.”
“When you were young, father, did you love the first comer; only because she was handsome and civil?”