Page:Edgar Jepson--the four philanthropists.djvu/261

Rh the amiability induced in me by the lunch, for I guessed what was coming.

"Yes—the fact is—I mean you must have noticed—I'm sure I've made no attempt to hide it, have I?" he said incoherently, and looked at me with an absolute frankness.

"I'm sure I can't say till you tell me what it is you haven't hidden," I said with a repellent air which should have warned him to change the subject.

"Why, that I admire her," he blundered on.

"Everyone with eyes in his head does that, everyone of taste—at least I should hope so," I said suavely. "Yes, yes; of course. But I don't mean like that. I mean seriously."

"Well, I suppose everyone admires her seriously. Admiration isn't a joke of any kind as far as I know," I said coldly, resolved to give him no help at all.

"Oh, how dense you are!" he said irritably, wriggling in his chair. "I mean I want to marry her."

"Well?"

"Well, I thought you might give me a helping hand— you might give her a hint of how I feel about her. I shouldn't like to take her by surprise."

It seemed to me best to nip this business in the