‘Did she not speak well to-night! You were in the room, I believe?’
‘Yes, I just turned in for half-an-hour: it seems that everybody does, so I thought I must. But I had no idea that you were feeble that way.’
‘It is very kind of you, Neigh—upon my word it is—very kind; and of course I appreciate the delicacy which—which—’
‘What’s kind?’
‘I mean your well-intentioned plan for making me believe that nothing is known of this. But stories will of course get wind; and if our attachment has made more noise in the world than I intended it should, and causes any public interest, why—ha-ha!—it must. There is some little romance in it perhaps, and people will talk of matters of that sort between individuals of any repute—little as that is with one of the pair.’
‘Of course they will—of course. You are a rising man, remember, whom some day the world will delight to honour.’
‘Thank you for that, Neigh. Thank you sincerely.’
‘Not at all. It is merely justice to say it, and one must he generous to deserve thanks.’
‘Ha-ha!—that’s very nicely put, and undeserved I am sure. And yet I need a word of that sort sometimes!’
‘Genius is proverbially modest.’