_Spread._ Why? Because I should have done my best to remove that reproach from society. I should indeed, Jane! Ha, ha! After all, it don’t much matter, for you wouldn’t have had me. Oh yes! you had no idea of it; but, do you know, I’ve a great mind to tell you--I _will_ tell you. Do you know, I was in love with you at one time. Boy and girl, you know--boy and girl. Ha, ha! _you’d_ no idea of it, but I was! _Jen._ (_in wonder_). Oh yes; I knew it very well. _Spread._ (_much astonished_). You knew it? You knew that I was attached to you! _Jen._ Why, of course I did! _Spread._ Did you, indeed! Bless me, you don’t say so! Now that’s amazingly curious. Leave a woman alone to find _that_ out! It’s instinctive, positively instinctive. Now, my dear Jane, I’m a very close student of human nature, and in pursuit of that study I should like above all things to know by what signs you detected my secret admiration for you. (_Takes her hand._) _Jen._ Why, bless the man! There was no mystery in the matter! You told me all about it! _Spread._ I told you all about it? _Jen._ Certainly you did--here, in this garden. _Spread._ That I admired you--loved you? _Jen._ Most assuredly! Surely you’ve not forgotten it. (_He drops her hand._) _I_ haven’t. _Spread._ I remember that I had the impertinence to be very fond of you. I forgot that I had the impertinence to tell you so. I remember it now. I made a fool of myself. I remember it by that. I told you that I adored you, didn’t I?--that you were as essential to me as the air I breathed--that it was impossible to support existence without you--that your name should be the most hallowed of earthly words, and so forth. Ha, ha! my dear Jane, before I’d been a week on board I was saying the same thing to a middle-aged governess whose name has entirely escaped me. (_She has exhibited signs of pleasure during the earlier part of this speech, and disappointment at the last two lines._) What fools we make of ourselves! _Jen._ And of others! _Spread._ Oh, I meant it, Jane; I meant every word I said to you. _Jen._ And the governess? _Spread._ And the governess! I would have married you, Jane. _Jen._ And the governess? _Spread._ And the governess! I’d have married _her_, if she had accepted me--but she didn’t. Perhaps it was as well--she was a widow with five children--I cursed my destiny at the time, but I’ve forgiven it since. I talked of blowing out my brains. I’m glad I didn’t do it, as I’ve found them useful in my profession. Ha! ha! (_Looking round; JENNY stands watching him._) The place has changed a good deal since my time--improved--improved--we’ve all three improved. I don’t quite like this tree, though--it’s in the way. What is it? A kind of beech, isn’t it? _Jen._ No, it’s a sycamore. _Spread._ Ha! I don’t understand English trees--but it’s a curious place for a big tree like this, just outside the drawing-room window. Isn’t it in the way? _Jen._ It _is_ rather in the way.