'But,' pleaded Virginia, 'cannot we enjoy both?'
'No,' said the Professor, 'for if I began to kiss you I should soon not care two straws about the parasites of the missing link.'
'Well, said Virginia, 'it is nice of you to say that; but still——Ah me! Ah me!'
And her bosom heaved slowly with a soft, long sigh.
CHAPTER XVII.
Virginia was preparing, with a rueful face, to resume her enjoyment of the higher pleasures, when a horrible smell, like that of an open drain, was suddenly blown in through the window.
Virginia stopped her nose with her handkerchief. The Professor's conduct was very different.
'Oh, rapture!' he cried, jumping up from his seat, 'I smell the missing link.' And in another instant he was gone.
'Well,' said Virginia, 'here is one comfort. Whilst Paul is away I shall be relieved from the higher pleasures. Alas!' she cried, as she flung herself down on the sofa, 'he is so nice-looking, and such an enlightened thinker. But it is plain he has never loved, or else very certainly he would love again.'