"Oh, don’t be angry! Do you think a girl doesn’t interpret things?" continued Mrs. Ellison. "She has her own pride, of course; she wouldn’t speak until she is spoken to. But _I_ can speak; and surely you know that it is only your interests I have at heart. And that is why we have been so glad to see this affair coming along—" "Who have been glad to see it?" he asked again. "Well, Hubert, for one. And I should think your father. Of course they must see how admirable a wife she would make you, now you are really embarked in public life. Clever, bright, amusing; of a good family; with a comfortable dowry, no doubt—but that would be of little consequence, so long as your father was pleased with the match: you will have plenty. And this is my offer, a very handsome one, I consider it: even now, at the last moment, I will try to get Hubert to postpone our marriage, if you and Louie will have your wedding on the same day with us. I have thought of it again and again; but somehow I didn’t like to speak. I was waiting for you to tell me that there was a definite understanding between you and Louie Drexel——" "Well, there is not," he said calmly. "Nor is there ever likely to be." "Oh, come, come," she said insidiously, "don’t make any rash resolve, simply because I may have interfered a little too soon. Consider the circumstances. Did you ever hear of any young man getting into Parliament with fairer prospects than you? Your friendship with —— is of itself enough to attract attention to you. You have hardly opened your mouth in the House yet; all the same I can see a disposition on the part of the newspapers to pet you——" "What has that got to do with Louie Drexel?" Vincent asked bluntly.