“Is that all?” she cried, smiling. “It’s a very proper proceeding for young things, but surely you need not look so serious over it.”
“I’m going to marry a Miss Bush.”
“Who on earth is she? I’ve never heard of her,” answered the good lady, turning to him with surprise; but a dim recollection flashed across her mind. “Wasn’t it a certain Jenny Bush that Frank told me you had discovered somewhere and vowed was the loveliest creature in the world?” She gave him a long and searching look. “I suppose you’re not going to marry a barmaid from a public-house in Fleet Street?”
“Yes,” he answered quietly.
’But why?”
“Presumably because I’m in love with her.”
“Nonsense! A susceptible youth falls in love with a dozen girls, but in a country where monogamy is enforced by Act of Parliament, it is impracticable to marry them all.”
“I’m afraid I can give you no other reason.”
“You might really have made that interesting announcement by letter,” returned Miss Ley dryly.
He looked down with a discouraged air, and for a while was silent.