"That I have waited seven years for her."
"Poor boy!" said she.
"That I shall wait seven more for her."
"Silly boy!" said she.
"And so I stopped this afternoon to tell her that I'm coming home to marry her in two or three months."
"Coming home?" she questioned with not much interest. "Where are you going?"
"To Japan on a little business trip. One of the big houses wants to get some papers and testimony and that sort of thing out of a man who is living in a backwoods village there for his health—and his liberty. None of their own men can afford time to go. And I got the chance, a very good one for me—but I tire you."
"No; oh, no," said Miss Knowles politely. "You are very interesting."
"Then you shouldn't fidget and yawn. You lay yourself open to misinterpretation. To continue: a very great chance for me. The firm is a big firm, the case is a big case, and it will be a great thing for me to be heard of in connection with it."
"Some nasty scandal, of course."