She looked at him sideways from beneath her long eyelashes. Dick was a man who appreciated the artifices of civilisation in the fair sex, and he was pleased with her pretty hat and with the flounces of her muslin frock. 'Because I chose,' she smiled. He shrugged his shoulders and put on an air of resignation. 'Of course if you're going to make yourself systematically disagreeable unless I marry you, I suppose I must bow to the inevitable.' 'I don't know if you have the least idea what you're talking about,' she answered, raising her eyebrows. 'I'm sure I haven't.' 'I was merely asking you in a rather well-turned phrase to name the day. The lamb shall be ready for the slaughter.' 'Is that a proposal of marriage?' she asked gaily. 'If not it must be its twin brother,' he returned. 'I'm so glad you've told me, because if I'd met it in the street I should never have recognised it, and I should simply have cut it dead.' 'You show as little inclination to answer a question as a cabinet minister in the House of Commons.' 'Couldn't you infuse a little romance into it? You see, I'm American, and I have a certain taste for sentiment in affairs of the heart.' 'I should be charmed, only you must remember that I have no experience in these matters.' 'That is visible to the naked eye,' she retorted. 'But I would suggest that it is only decent to go down on your bended knees.' 'That sounds a perilous feat to perform in a hansom cab, and it would certainly attract an amount of attention from passing bus-drivers which would be embarrassing.' 'You could never convince me of the sincerity of your passion unless you did something of the kind,' she replied. 'I assure you that it is quite out of fashion. Lovers now-a-days are much too middle-aged, and their joints are creaky. Besides it ruins the trousers.' 'I admit your last reason is overwhelming. No nice woman should ask a man to make his trousers baggy at the knees.' 'How could she love him if they were!' exclaimed Dick. 'But at all events there can be no excuse for your not saying that you know you are utterly unworthy of me.' 'Wild horses wouldn't induce me to make a statement which is so remote from the truth,' he replied coolly. 'I did it with my little hatchet.' 'And of course you must threaten to commit suicide if I don't consent. That is only decent.' 'Women are such sticklers for routine,' he sighed. 'They have no originality. They have a passion for commonplace, and in moments of emotion they fly with unerring instinct into the flamboyance of melodrama.' 'I like to hear you use long words. It makes me feel so grown up.' 'By the way, how old are you?' he asked suddenly. 'Twenty-nine,' she answered promptly. 'Nonsense. There is no such age.' 'Pardon me,' she protested gravely. 'Upper parlour maids are always twenty-nine. But I deplore your tendency to digress.' 'Am I digressing? I'm so sorry. What were we talking about?'