I--I daresay you have noticed it
yourself."
"My hobby is gardening."
Light broke upon George. "Then was it really you--?"
"It was!"
George sat down. "This opens up a new line of thought!" he said.
Lord Marshmoreton remained standing. He shook his head sternly.
"It won't do, Mr. . . . I have never heard your name."
"Bevan," replied George, rather relieved at being able to remember
it in the midst of his mental turmoil.
"It won't do, Mr. Bevan. It must stop. I allude to this absurd
entanglement between yourself and my daughter. It must stop at
once."
It seemed to George that such an entanglement could hardly be said
to have begun, but he did not say so.
Lord Marshmoreton resumed his remarks. Lady Caroline had sent him
to the cottage to be stern, and his firm resolve to be stern lent
his style of speech something of the measured solemnity and careful
phrasing of his occasional orations in the House of Lords.
"I have no wish to be unduly hard upon the indiscretions of Youth.
Youth is the period of Romance, when the heart rules the head. I
myself was once a young man."
"Well, you're practically that now," said George.
Pages:
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228