“A week? A mere nothing!” I answered “Do you know,” I now suggested, “that you have forgotten to ask me what I was thinking about when we met?”
“Bless me, young gentleman! and was it so remarkable?”
“Not at all, but it partly answers what Mrs. Weguelin St. Michael asked me. If a young man does not really wish to marry a young woman there are ways well known by which she can be brought to break the engagement.”
“Ah,” said Mrs. Gregory, “of course; gayeties and irregularities—”
“That is, if he’s not above them,” I hastily subjoined.
“Not always, by any means,” Mrs. Gregory returned. “Kings Port has been treated to some episodes—”
Mrs. Weguelin put in a word of defence. “It is to be said, Maria, that John’s irregularities have invariably been conducted with perfect propriety.”
“Oh,” said Mrs. Gregory, “no Mayrant was ever known to be gross!”
“But this particular young lady,” said Mrs. Weguelin, “would not be estranged by an masculine irregularities and gayeties. Not many.”
“How about infidelities?” I suggested. “If he should flagrantly lose his heart to another?”