"
"No, I thank you. I have no wish to go beyond Mr. and Miss Dodd."
"Oh, only for an experiment. The first minute Jack will be wretched,
and want to sink through the floor; but in five minutes you will fancy
Lucy will have made Jack Absolom at home in my drawing-room. He will
be laying down the law about Jonquilles, and she all sweetness,
curiosity, and enthusiasm outside--_ennui_ in."
"Can her eyes glisten out of politeness?" inquired Talboys, with a
subdued sneer.
"Why not?"
"They could shed tears, perhaps, for the same motive?" said Talboys,
with crushing irony.
"Well! Hum! I'd back them at four to seven."
Mr. Talboys was silent, and his manner showed that he was a little
mortified at a subject turning to joke which he had commenced
seriously. He must stop this annoyance. He said severely, "It is time
to come to an understanding with you."
At these words, and, above all, at their solemn tone, the senior
pricked his ears and prepared his social diplomacy.
"I have visited very frequently at your house, Mr. Fountain."
"Never without being welcome, my dear sir."
"You have, I think, divined one reason of my very frequent visits
here."
"I have not been vain enough to attribute them entirely to my own
attractions."
"You approve the homage I render to that other attraction?"
"Unfeignedly."
"Am I so fortunate as to have her suffrage, too?"
"I have no better means of knowing than you have."
"Indeed! I was in hopes you might have sounded her inclinations.
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