Page:The Tragic Muse (London & New York, Macmillan & Co., 1890), Volume 2.djvu/49

Rh "I expect you to repay me!" said the old man gaily. "As for the form, I have it in my mind."

"The form of repayment?"

"No, no—of settlement."

"Ah, don't talk of it now," said Nick, "for, you see, nothing else is settled. No one has been told except my mother. She has only consented to my telling you."

"Lady Agnes, do you mean?"

"Ah, no; dear mother would like to publish it on the house-tops. She's so glad—she wants us to have it over tomorrow. But Julia wishes to wait. Therefore kindly mention it for the present to no one."

"My dear boy, at this rate there is nothing to mention. What does Julia want to wait for?"

"Till I like her better—that's what she says."

"It's the way to make you like her worse. Hasn't she your affection?"

"So much so that her delay makes me exceedingly unhappy."

Mr. Carteret looked at his young friend as if he didn't strike him as very unhappy; but he demanded: "Then what more does she want?" Nick laughed out at this, but he perceived his host had not meant it as an epigram; while the latter went on: "I don't understand. You're engaged or you're not engaged."

"She is, but I am not. That's what she says about it. The trouble is she doesn't believe in me."

"Doesn't she love you then?"

"That's what I ask her. Her answer is that she loves me