"I was
so pleased at being called young that I let the poor pass."
"Fancy!" she exclaimed, looking at me with eyes like stars. And
then, recovering herself, she added in another tone: "Now don't
you think it was very forward to rendezvous at a private castle?"
"Oh, I thought I could make myself solid before she arrived," I
said.
"Fyles," she said, "I am beginning to have a different opinion of
you. You are not as straightforward as a ffrench ought to be--and,
though I'm ashamed to say it of you--but you are positively
conceited."
"Unsay, take back, those angry words," I said; and even as I did
so the anchor went splash and I could hear the telegraph jingle in
the engine-room.
"And so you're rich," said Verna, "awfully, immensely,
disgustingly rich, and you've been masquerading all this afternoon
as a charming pauper!"
"I don't think I said charming," I remarked.
"But I say it," said Verna, "because, really you know, you're
awfully nice, and I like you, and I'm glad from the bottom of my
heart that you are rich!"
"Thank you," I said, "I'm glad, too."
"Now we must go down and meet your boat," said Verna. "See, there
it is, coming in--though I still think it was cheeky of you to
tell them to land uninvited."
"Oh, let them wait!" I said.
"No, no, we must go and meet them," said Verna, "and I'm going to
ask that glorious old fox with the yellow beard whether it's all
true or not!"
"You can't believe it yet?" I said.
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