"You will never have a chance of running away from me."

"I shall not want to. I am not so squeamish as I was. No; I do not think I shall run away from you."

"I do not think so either."

"Well, when shall we be married?"

"Never," said Agatha, and fled. But before she had gone a step he caught her.

"Don't," she said breathlessly. "Take your arm away. How dare you?"

He released her and shut the door of the conservatory. "Now," he said, "if you want to run away you will have to run in the open."

"You are very impertinent. Let me go in immediately."

"Do you want me to beg you to marry me after you have offered to do it freely?"

"But I was only joking; I don't care for you," she said, looking round for an outlet.

"Agatha," he said, with grim patience, "half an hour ago I had no more intention of marrying you than of making a voyage to the moon. But when you made the suggestion I felt all its force in an instant, and now nothing will satisfy me but your keeping your word. Of all the women I know, you are the only one not quite a fool."

"I should be a great fool if--"

"If you married me, you were going to say; but I don't think so. I am the only man, not quite an a.s.s, of your acquaintance. I know my value, and yours. And I loved you long ago, when I had no right to."

Agatha frowned. "No," she said. "There is no use in saying anything more about it. It is out of the question."

"Come, don't be vindictive. I was more sincere then than you were. But that has nothing to do with the present. You have spent our renewed acquaintance on the defensive against me, retorting upon me, teasing and tempting me. Be generous for once, and say Yes with a good will."

"Oh, I NEVER tempted you," cried Agatha. "I did not. It is not true."

He said nothing, but offered his hand. "No; go away; I will not."

He persisted, and she felt her power of resistance suddenly wane.

Terror-stricken, she said hastily, "There is not the least use in bothering me; I will tell you nothing to-day."

"Promise me on your honor that you will say Yes to-morrow, and I will leave you in peace until then."

"I will not."

"The deuce take your s.e.x," he said plaintively.

"You know my mind now, and I have to stand here coquetting because you don't know your own. If I cared for my comfort I should remain a bachelor."

"I advise you to do so," she said, stealing backward towards the door.

"You are a very interesting widower. A wife would spoil you. Consider the troubles of domesticity, too."

"I like troubles. They strengthen--Aha!" (she had s.n.a.t.c.hed at the k.n.o.b of the door, and he swiftly put his hand on hers and stayed her). "Not yet, if you please. Can you not speak out like a woman--like a man, I mean? You may withhold a bone from Max until he stands on his hind legs to beg for it, but you should not treat me like a dog. Say Yes frankly, and do not keep me begging."

"What in the world do you want to marry me for?"

"Because I was made to carry a house on my shoulders, and will do so.

I want to do the best I can for myself, and I shall never have such a chance again. And I cannot help myself, and don't know why; that is the plain truth of the matter. You will marry someone some day." She shook her head. "Yes, you will. Why not marry me?"

Agatha bit her nether lip, looked ruefully at the ground, and, after a long pause, said reluctantly, "Very well. But mind, I think you are acting very foolishly, and if you are disappointed afterwards, you must not blame ME."

"I take the risk of my bargain," he said, releasing her hand, and leaning against the door as he took out his pocket diary. "You will have to take the risk of yours, which I hope may not prove the worse of the two. This is the seventeenth of June. What date before the twenty-fourth of July will suit you?"

"You mean the twenty-fourth of July next year, I presume?"

"No; I mean this year. I am going abroad on that date, married or not, to attend a conference at Geneva, and I want you to come with me. I will show you a lot of places and things that you have never seen before.

It is your right to name the day, but you have no serious business to provide for, and I have."

"But you don't know all the things I shall--I should have to provide.

You had better wait until you come back from the continent."

"There is nothing to be provided on your part but settlements and your trousseau. The trousseau is all nonsense; and Jansenius knows me of old in the matter of settlements. I got married in six weeks before."

"Yes," said Agatha sharply, "but I am not Henrietta."

"No, thank Heaven," he a.s.sented placidly.

Agatha was struck with remorse. "That was a vile thing for me to say,"

she said; "and for you too."

"Whatever is true is to the purpose, vile or not. Will you come to Geneva on the twenty-fourth?"

"But--I really was not thinking when I--I did not intend to say that I would--I--"

"I know. You will come if we are married."

"Yes. IF we are married."

"We shall be married. Do not write either to your mother or Jansenius until I ask you."

"I don't intend to. I have nothing to write about."

"Wretch that you are! And do not be jealous if you catch me making love to Lady Brandon. I always do so; she expects it."

"You may make love to whom you please. It is no concern of mine."

"Here comes the wagonette with Lady Brandon and Ger--and Miss Lindsay.

I mustn't call her Gertrude now except when you are not by. Before they interrupt us, let me remind you of the three points we are agreed upon. I love you. You do not love me. We are to be married before the twenty-fourth of next month. Now I must fly to help her ladyship to alight."

He hastened to the house door, at which the wagonette had just stopped.

Agatha, bewildered, and ashamed to face her friends, went in through the conservatory, and locked herself in her room.

Trefusis went into the library with Gertrude whilst Lady Brandon loitered in the hall to take off her gloves and ask questions of the servants. When she followed, she found the two standing together at the window. Gertrude was listening to him with the patient expression she now often wore when he talked. He was smiling, but it struck Jane that he was not quite at ease. "I was just beginning to tell Miss Lindsay,"

he said, "of an extraordinary thing that has happened during your absence."

"I know," exclaimed Jane, with sudden conviction. "The heater in the conservatory has cracked."