“Well, I had been thinking now was a right good time.”

“It can’t be too soon for me,” she flashed back, sweeping him with proud, indignant eyes.

“But I ain’t so sure. I rather think I’d better wait.”

“No, no! Let us have it done with once and for all.”

He relapsed into a serene, abstracted silence.

“Aren’t you going to speak?” she flamed.

“I’ve decided to wait.”

“Well, I haven’t. Ask me this minute, sir, to marry you.”

“Ce’tainly, if you cayn’t wait. Miss Mackenzie, will you—”

“No, sir, I won’t—not if you were the last man on earth,” she interrupted hotly, whipping herself into a genuine rage. “I never was so insulted in my life. It would be ridiculous if it weren’t so—so outrageous. You expect, do you? And it isn’t conceit, but a deep-seated certainty you can’t get away from.”