"If you wish me to comprehend the word 'serious,' you must speak out. What does it mean?"
"It means marriage," she answered, with an outburst of temper--as far as tone might convey it. "I allude to this absurd intimacy of yours with Miss Adair. You must be intimate with the girl; your look and attitude, as I passed to-day, proved it."
"And if I did mean marriage, what then?"
He asked the question jokingly, laughing a little; but he was not prepared for the effect it had on his mother. Her eyes flashed fire, her lips trembled, her face turned white as death.
"Marriage! With her? You must be dreaming, Arthur Bohun."
"Not dreaming; joking," he said, lightly. "You may be at ease, madam; I have no intention of marrying any one at present."
"You must never marry Miss Adair."
"No?"
"Arthur Bohun, you are treating all this with mockery," she exclaimed, beginning to believe that he really was so; and the relief was great, though the tacit disrespect angered her. "How dare you imply that you could think seriously of these village girls?--only to annoy and frighten me."
"You must be easily frightened to-day, madam. I don't think I did imply it. As to Miss Adair----"