“Have you indeed?” said Currie.
“Secured it for the fifteenth. Now the
question is-”
“What do you think,” said Glossop, interrupting
him without the slightest hesitation. “Mounser
Green is going to Patagonia, in place of the poor
Paragon.”
“I beg to congratulate Mr. Green with all my
heart.”
“By George I don’t,” said the juvenile
clerk. “Fancy congratulating a fellow on
going to Patagonia! It’s what I call an
awful sell for everybody.”
“But as I was saying I have the hall for the
fifteenth.”
“You mean to lecture then after all,”
said Green.
“Certainly I do, I am not going to be deterred
from doing my duty because I am told there is a little
danger. What I want to know is whether I can
depend on having a staff of policemen.”
“Of course there will be police,” said
Green.
“But I mean some extra strength. I don’t
mind for myself, but I should be so unhappy if there
were anything of a commotion.” Then he
was assured that the officers of the police force would
look to that, and was assured also that Mounser Green
and the other gentlemen in the room would certainly
attend the lecture. “I don’t suppose
I shall be gone by that time,” said Mounser Green
in a melancholy tone of voice.
“I must go”
Rufford, March 5th.
My Dear Miss Trefoil,
I am indeed sorry that I should have offended you
by acceding to a suggestion which, I think I may say,
originated with your mother. When she told me
that her circumstances and yours were not in a pecuniary
point of view so comfortable as they might be, I did
feel that it was in my power to alleviate that trouble.
The sum of money mentioned by my lawyer was certainly
named by your mother. At any rate pray believe
that I meant to be of service.
As to naming a place where we might meet, it really
could be of no service. It would be painful to
both of us and could have no good result. Again
apologizing for having inadvertently offended you by
adopting the views which Lady Augustus entertained,
I beg to assure you that I am,
Yours
faithfully,
Rufford.
This letter came from the peer himself, without assistance.
After his interview with Lady Augustus he simply told
his Mentor, Sir George, that he had steadfastly denied
the existence of any engagement, not daring to acquaint
him with the offer he had made. Neither, therefore,
could he tell Sir George of the manner in which the
young lady had repudiated the offer. That she
should have repudiated it was no doubt to her credit.
As he thought of it afterwards he felt that had she
accepted it she would have been base indeed.
And. yet, as he thought of what had taken place at
the house in Piccadilly, he was confident that the
proposition had in some way come from her mother.
