"Is it too plain? I'll stop if you say so."
"Oh, no. Pray continue. It does me good. And, besides, I don't know but that I agree with you."
"I thought you did. I have thought so for some time."
"Were you jealous, Doctor? You used to be rather attentive to Rose, if I remember rightly."
"Fearfully jealous; but where is the use? She gave me my coup de congé long ago. That I am still alive, and talking to you is the most convincing proof I can give that hearts do not break."
"After all," said Stanford, "I don't believe you ever were very far gone with Rose. My stately fiancée suits you better. If I take you at your word, and she rejects the baronet and the viscount, you might try your luck."
"It would be worse than useless. I might as well love some bright, particular star, and hope to win it, as Miss Danton. Ah! here she comes!"
Leaning on the arm of Lord Ellerton, Miss Danton came up smilingly.
"Are you two plotting treason, that you sit there with such solemn faces all the evening?" she asked.
"You have guessed it," replied her lover; "it is treason. Doctor, I'll think of what you have been saying."