"Mr Macleod, is it an elopement you propose?"
"Ellen, it is."
The little man was shaking like a leaf.
"I never heard of such a thing in my life."
"Nor did I dream that I should make such a proposition to a living woman--but needs must when the devil drives."
The lady began to cry.
"Alan, I must say you have not a flattering way of putting things."
"What avails flattery at such a moment as this. For Heaven's sake, don't cry. I have heard you say yourself that you don't believe in long engagements."
"Yes--but when one has not been engaged five minutes!"
"What matters five minutes or five years, when one has once resolved? It seems to me that when there is nothing to gain by waiting--but everything to lose--the sooner one marries the better."