"Don't you see what a dreadful thing that would be?" I said.
She gave me a quick flash of her eye—there, and gone in a second.
"Why?" she demanded.
"People would say I married you for your money," I declared boldly. "That would be awful for both of us!"
She remained silent a moment, tracing the pattern of the cloth with the tip of her finger. Then she spoke—emphatically.
"Rot!" she said.
"No!" said I, with equal emphasis. "Because they would! I know 'em! And it's beastly hard on me; it upsets my plans. Parslewe's upset all my plans. If I'd only known———"
"Only known what?" she asked.
"Only known that he was going to spring this on us!" I answered, bitterly. "If I'd only known that, I'd—I'd have———"
"You'd have what?" she asked, as I paused and hesitated.
"Well—I'd have proposed to you this morning when we were in the hotel garden, or in that carriage, or in the wood, when
