"I repent of my promise, then. I'd rather know now, if you please."
"But I can't decide in such a hurry. You, as a business man, ought to know it's ill-judged to rush at decisions in such—"
"I'm not in my office now, and don't feel at all like a business man; it's of no use appealing to me as such, Miss Lefroy. Listen, while I tell you a crisp anecdote that may help to throw light on the crotchets of my character."
"It's very late. I must go; auntie will be—"
"One soft spring day I was sitting in a room alone with a young lady—"
Addie stops unconsciously, interested in spite of herself.
"A young lady whom I knew very slightly, and in whom I had hitherto taken not the faintest interest."
"Yes?"
"Until she happened to hand me a cup of tea—"