"You have a ripping moonlight walk instead of a
so-called night's rest in a frowsy hut. We shall get our breakfast there
instead, and I expect to start fresher than if I had slept there and
been knocked up at two o'clock in the morning. That's all settled,
anyhow, and you can look for me on top through the telescope after
breakfast. I shall be back before dark, and then--"
"Well, what then?" I asked, for Bob had made a significant and yet
irresolute pause, as though he could not quite bring himself to tell me
something that was on his mind.
"Well," he echoed nonchalantly at last, as though he had not hesitated
at all, "as a matter of fact, to-morrow night I am to know my fate. I
have asked Mrs. Lascelles to marry me, and she hasn't said no, but I am
giving her till to-morrow night. That's all, Clephane. I thought it a
fair thing to let you know. If you want to waltz in and try your luck
while I'm gone, there's nothing on earth to prevent you, and it might be
most satisfactory to everybody. As a matter of fact, I'm only going so
as to get over the time and keep out of the way."
"As a matter of fact?" I queried, waving a little stick toward the
lighted windows. "Listen a minute, and then tell me!"
And we listened together to the last and clearest rendering of the
refrain--
"Then tell me how to woo thee, Love;
O tell me how to woo thee!
For thy dear sake, nae care I'll take,
Tho' ne'er another trow me!"
"What tosh!" shouted Bob (his mother should have heard him) through the
applause.
Pages:
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113