"I thought he was a gentleman," I replied.
"Everybody dabbles in business nowadays," she returned, not
perceiving the innuendo. "I am sure Papa ought to know all about
it from the amount of money he has lost."
"Perhaps his was a case of ffrenches last!" I said.
"Still, he knows all the influential people," she continued, "and
it would be so easy for him to get you a position over here."
"That would be charming," I said.
"And then I might see you occasionally," she said, with such a
little ring of kindness in her voice that for a minute I felt a
perfect brute for deceiving her. "You could run down here from
Saturday to Monday, you know, and on Bank Holidays, and in the
season you would have the entree to our London house and the
chance of meeting nice people!"
"How jolly!" I said.
"I can't bear you to go back to America," she said. "Now that I've
found you, I'm going to keep you."
"I hate the thought of going back myself," I said, and so I did--
at the thought of leaving that angel!
"Then, you know," she went on, somewhat shyly and hesitatingly,
"you have such good manners and such a good air, and you're so----
"
"Don't mind saying handsome," I remarked.
"You really are very nice-looking," she said, with a seriousness
that made me acutely uncomfortable, "and what with our friendship
and our house open to you and the people you could invite down
here, because I know Papa is going to go out of his mind about
you--he and I are always crazy about the same people, you know--
not to speak of the little f, there is no reason, Fyles, why in
the end you shouldn't marry an awfully rich girl and set up for
yourself!"
"Thank you," I said, "but if it's all the same to you I don't
think I'd care to.
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