"Well, then," said he, "I do say it, and I suppose that means I must
urge you no more about poor Talboys."
A shower of kisses descended upon him that moment. Moral: Lose no time
in sealing a good bargain.
"Come, now, Lucy, you must do me a favor."
"Oh, thank you! thank you! what is it?"
"Ah! but it is about Talboys too."
"Never mind," faltered Lucy, "if it is anything short of--" (full
stop).
"It is a long way short of that. Look here, Lucy, I must tell you the
truth. He intends to ask your hand himself: he confided this to me,
but he never authorized me to commit him as I have done, so that this
conversation cannot be acted on: it must be a secret between you and
me."
"Oh, dear! and I thought I had got rid of him so nicely."
"Don't be alarmed," groaned Fountain; "such matches as this can always
be dropped; the difficulty is to bring them on. All I ask of you,
then, is not to make mischief between me and my friend, the proudest
man in England. If you don't value his friendship, I do. You must not
let him know I have got him insulted by a refusal. For instance, you
had better go out sailing with him to-morrow as if nothing had passed.
Will your affection for me carry you as far as that?"
The proposal was wormwood to Lucy. So she smiled and said eagerly: "Is
that all? Why, I will do it with pleasure, dear. It is not like being
in the same boat with him for life, you know. Can you give me nothing
more than that to do for you?"
"No; it does not do to test people's affection too severely.
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