“Oh, Rick, what a story! Do you think she's a girl you'll be happy with?”
“I suppose we've as good a chance as most couples. Nina's game, and says she'll never hold me to it. She swears she wasn't trying to rope me in, and if I ever say it, she'll drop me flat.” The young flying officer smiled a rather wry smile.
“You're supposed to be something of a catch, aren't you, Rick — I mean from the English point of view?”
Rick could talk about the social position of the Codwilliger family, but not of the Pomeroy-Nielsons. “The pater says we'll lose The Reaches if they keep piling war taxes on him. And what price a baronet if you have to live in lodgings?”
VII
Lanny was excited, of course. He wanted to know about Nina, and what she looked like — Rick had a little picture, which showed a slender, birdlike person with an eager, intense expression. Lanny admired her, and Rick was pleased. Lanny asked what she was studying, and about her family — her father was a barrister, but not a successful one; she would be one of these new women who had careers of their own, kept their own names, and so on. None of this clinging sort.
Lanny said that his father was taking him to London soon. Could he meet her? Rick said: “Of course.”
“Could I give her a present, do you suppose? Would she like some picture that we could pick up for her?”
“You'd better wait,” laughed the other, “and see what happens to me. If I'm put out, you'd better give her a baby basket.”
“I'll give her both!” Lanny had recently become aware of the fact that his father had a pile of money.