"
"Are you out of your senses, Linn!" Maurice cried, angrily.
"No, I don't think so," he said, and he went to the mantelpiece for a
cigarette.
"How did it come about?" demanded Maurice, again.
"Oh, I don't know. It isn't of much consequence, is it?" Lionel
answered, carelessly.
Then Maurice instantly reflected that, if this thing were really done,
it was not for him to protest.
"Of course I say nothing against the young lady--certainly not. I
thought she was very pleasant the night I was introduced to her, and
nice-looking too. But I had no idea you were taken in that quarter,
Linn; none--hence the surprise. I used to think you were in the happy
position which Landor declared impossible. What were the lines? I
haven't seen them for twenty years, but they were something like this:
'Fair maiden, when I look on thee,
I wish that I were young and free;
But both at once, ah, who could be?'
I thought you were 'both at once'--and very well content. But supposing
you have given up your freedom, why should that vex and trouble you? The
engagement time is said to be the happiest period of a man's life; what
is wrong in your case?"
Lionel took a turn or two up and down the room.
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