"I am happy, and in my own way. I get something out of every moment. Do you think I am going to run the risk of losing all that for anything so dubious as this old game of sex?" "Very good game if it is played properly. I have a mind to teach you." "Well, you will not!" "I think I shall. It is either marry you or leave California." "That is a threat unworthy of you." "No threat at all. If you will not permit me to protect you in one way I must in another. I leave and throw everything over with great eclat. You have discarded me and I cannot stand the proximity." "They might merely think that you were running away from me." "I shall take good care they think what I choose. Women are more romantic and sentimental than malignant, the bulk. All they want is a starter." "But you need not leave California. You can move to San Francisco." "Now you are talking like a child. I shall return to England. As to my American career, my only chance lies here. I hate the rest of the country, and the best material is in California, anyhow. Yesterday I received a letter from my solicitor, enclosing one from Jimmy, who informed me that I was on every tongue, that the public curiosity was piqued, that the newspapers were demanding that I should return and accept my responsibilities, and that without doubt a place would be made for me in the new Liberal Cabinet. It is a propitious moment for return. If there is a time when a Liberal peer can make any running it is when his party is in power." There was a pause for several moments. Gwynne filled and lit another pipe. Isabel stared at a ring she twisted about her finger, Mr. Clink at the geranium stump. The low dull roar in the forest tops was unceasing, but for other sound of life they might have swung off into space. Finally Isabel spoke. "I won't marry you," she said. "But all ends will be served if we announce an engagement. We can state that we think it best not to marry until your law studies are concluded. It can be postponed once or twice on other pretexts, then fall through. By that time gossip will be forgotten, people will have lost interest in us. In San Francisco they are not likely to hear of this at all, or if they do it will not matter, and if you fall in love with any of the _cotillon_ beauties I will release you in due form and give you my blessing." "I have not the least intention of undertaking life with a _cotillon_ beauty. Your compromise will do for the present, but you will understand that my proposal is a bona fide one, should you arrive at a more rational frame of mind." "I sha'n't fall a victim to any irrational state of mind. I won't marry. Why, even people that like me too much interfere with my sense of liberty." Gwynne laughed. "We had better be starting," he said. XXXI