“I do,” I replied, “if harum-scarum means irresistible.”
“You resisted me, at any rate; but, as I was going to remark, I had the regulation number of eyes about my person, and couldn’t well help seeing what lay straight before me.”
“I saw nothing!”
“Ah, but you are a man! and remember that there are none so blind as those who can’t see!”
“Then you think the affair was well under weigh before the end of the first week?”
“With the Don, yes; and Mary was far more interested than she would allow herself to believe.”
“Do you suppose that she was aware of the critical state of the Don’s affections?”
“Of course she was; don’t you know that a woman always perceives that a man is falling in love with her long before he finds it out himself?”
“Not to add,” I rejoined, “that she often perceives it when the man never does find it out himself. By the way, why do women always express surprise at a proposal, as I am told they invariably do?”
“Oh, that is to gain time; but rest assured, the surprise is about as real as that felt by a spider when a fly, after buzzing about her web for a time, and lightly grazing first one thread and then another, at last puts himself in a position where he may be made available.”