Page:Zangwill-King of schnorrers.djvu/268

254 254 THE PRINCIPAL BOY.

She put her little hand caressingly upon his hair, and was silent.

" Yes ! it is an old promise. It shall be kept."

" Ah ! " She drew her hand away with an inarticulate cry. " Like a duty dance, but you do not love me? "

He ignored the point. " I am rich now — my father has unexpectedly become Lord Redhill — you probably heard it!"

" You don't love me ! You can't love me ! " It sounded like the cry of a soul in despair.

" So there's no need for either of us to earn a living."

" But you don't love me ! You only want to save me."

" Well, of course Lord Redhill wouldn't like his daughter- in-law to be — "

"The Principal Boy — ha! ha! ha! But what — ho! ho ! ho ! I must laugh, Frank, old man, it is so funny — what about the Principal Boy? Do you think he'd cotton to the idea of marrying a peer in embryo ! Not if Lucy Gray knows it ; no, by Jove ! Why, when your coronet came along, I should have to leave the stage, or else people 'ud be saying I couldn't act worth a cent. They'd class me with Lady London and Lady Hansard — oh, Lord ! Fancy me on the Drury Lane bills — Prince Prettypet, Lady Red- hill. And then, great Scot, think whom they'd class you with. Ha ! ha ! ha ! No, my boy, I'm not going to marry a microcephalous idiot. Ho ! ho ! ho ! I wish somebody would put all this in a farce."

" Do I understand that you wish to break off the engage- ment?" Frank said slowly, a note of surprise in his voice.

" You've hit it — now that I hear about this peerage busi- ness — why didn't you tell me before? I'm out of all the gossip of court circles, and it wasn't in the Era. No, I might have redeemed my promise to a commoner, but a