Page:Georgie by Dorothea Deakin, 1906.djvu/73

The Goddess Girl "Muggeridge," said I gaily, "has ninety thousand pounds. He is good-tempered and easy-going, and he wants a wife."

"Ah!" Anne caught my meaning, as I saw, but she did not blush. She never did.

"Yes," said I impressively, "he has an ideal. He is waiting to find a girl who will love him for himself alone; a lady who will never interrupt him when he speaks, a woman who will devote her life to his comforts. He requires more comforts than any man I ever met. Also, he objects to a woman having opinions of her own."

"I don't see," said Anne quietly, "how you expect all this to interest me!"

"Dont [sic] you? He is staying on in the village for ten days or so—I thought perhaps the vicar might sometimes take pity on his solitude and ask him to dine. He has twice as much money as Georgie, and would be infinitely easier to manage. Georgie is young and restive. In time perhaps—who knows?—but he might kick over the traces—or—even—bolt!"

Anne was still gravely scrutinizing the 57