CHAPTER XVI
A FOOL AND HIS FOLLY
The dog gave a yelp.
“Do take care, Otto,” cried the Baroness, sharply. Her voice was shrill with irritation. “I wish you would sit down. You have trodden on poor Plush’s tail! And there really was no reason for that. Not even if I take in earnest, as I have no intention of doing, the exceedingly poor joke you have just concocted.”
“I assure you it is no joke, mother, but very sober earnest.”
“I am to believe that you have this morning asked Ursula Rovers to be your wife, and that she has deigned to accept you?”
“She has deigned to accept me, mother.”
“Then there are other things you can tread on besides little dogs.” She was too angry to continue. An embarrassing silence had thickened between them before she added, looking straight in front of her, “But I shall not afford you the satisfaction of a yelp.”