"I'll be delighted," he said, eagerly. "I do want to start the new year with everything settled; that's the reason I pushed myself on to you, as it were, this afternoon. I hate beating about the bush, and all our friends are wondering why the engagement is not announced."
"Oh, dear! you have gone back miles further than I intended," she laughed. "I understood you wanted to warn me against somebody."
"I do, Madeline. I'm your best friend, if you'll only believe it. And I do beseech you, if you've been in the least friendly with that fellow Sterne, you'll drop him."
"You think he isn't a good man."
"Oh, blow his goodness. The point is, he's common, vulgar—bad form in every way, if you understand. Anyone in your position should never be seen speaking to him."
"But is there anything against his moral character?"
"Oh, confound his moral character," he said, with an oath, for which he apologised at once. "It isn't that I'm squeamish about. The point is, Madeline, he's no gentleman."
"He seemed to me to be quite a gentleman."
"I'm sorry to hear you say that," he said, mournfully, getting up and throwing another log on the fire. "It shows how you may be deceived by such scoundrels."
"But is that a nice word to use of any man against whose moral character you have no complaint to make?"