"If he does," said Jerry, slapping her hands together to free them of an imaginary sugar crumb, "I shall never, never marry him."
"Then may I ask, Miss Dangerfield, if you and he are engaged?"
"Not at all, Mrs. Atchison! Not only are we not engaged, but he has never even proposed to me. Besides, I am engaged to Colonel Rutherford Gillingwater, our adjutant-general."
"Then if you are engaged to this military person, just wherein lies the significance of your threat never to marry my brother?"
"That," said Jerry, "is perfectly easy of explanation. Your brother and I have met only a few times, and I never become engaged to any man whom I have not known for a week at least. Marriage is a serious matter and while the frequent breaking of engagements is painful in the extreme, I think one can not be too careful in assuming the marriage bond."
Mrs. Atchison wondered whether the girl was amusing herself at her expense, but Jerry's tone was grave and Jerry's eyes were steady. Jerry was a new species, and she had appeared at a fortunate moment when Mrs. Atchison had almost concluded that the world is a squeezed lemon.
"In view of the fact that you are engaged to Dillingwater—" began Mrs. Atchison, anxious for further disclosures touching Jerry's ideas on matrimony.
"Colonel Rutherford Gillingwater, please!" corrected Jerry.
"—I don't quite grasp this matter of your attitude toward my brother. Unless I misunderstood you, you remarked a moment ago that unless he succeeded in his present undertaking you would never marry him."
"That is exactly what I said, and I meant ever word of it," declared Jerry. "I will not conceal from you, Mrs. Atchison, my determination that your brother shall be my second husband."