'I will bear the threat that is implied in that with fortitude.'
He turned round and taking her hand, raised it to his lips.
'I thank you from the bottom of my heart,' he said earnestly.
This puzzled her.
'The man's mad,' she murmured to a constable who stood on the curb as they passed. 'The man's nothing short of a raving lunatic.'
'It is one of my most cherished convictions that a really nice woman is never so cruel as to marry a man she cares for. You have given me proof of esteem which I promise I will never forget.'
Mrs. Crowley could not help laughing.
'You're much too flippant to marry anybody, and you're perfectly odious into the bargain.'
'I will be a brother to you, Mrs. Crowley.'
He opened the trap and told the cabman to drive back to Victoria Street, but at Hyde Park Corner he suggested that Mrs. Crowley might drop him so that he could take a stroll in the park. When he got out and closed the doors behind him, Julia leaned forward.