“You have guessed too much and too little, my sunbeam,” he said.
“What a paradoxical statement, my learned Bachelor of Arts! I expected better things of you,” retorted Gladys, merrily.
“You have yet to find my statement true, in spite of the seeming paradox,” he replied, with mock dignity. “Somebody is going to Europe—we are not all going, however.”
“Oh, Geoff! you are not to be left at home, are you?” cried his betrothed, in a disappointed tone, her face paling at the thought.
“Guess again, my lady,” he said, teasingly.
“Well, I know that papa would not go without mamma, and I am sure she would never cross the ocean without him, and they certainly would not take such a trip and leave me behind,” responded Gladys, with a puzzled air.
“‘Plato, thou reasonest well,’” quoted Geoffrey, an amused twinkle in his eyes; “and not to keep you longer in suspense, I will inform you that Uncle August has some business abroad, which, as he cannot make up his mind to the voyage, he thinks I can attend to, and he has proposed that I take you along with me. We are to have a six months’ trip, combine business with pleasure, and get all the enjoyment we can out of it.”
Gladys gave one startled, astonished glance at her lover’s face as he concluded, and then her face clouded and her eyes dropped beneath his.
“Did—papa propose that to you?” she asked, in a low tone, a burning blush suffusing her face.
“Yes, dear. He said you had long wanted to go abroad, and he thought this would be a fine opportunity for both of us. Doesn’t the idea please you?”