This is extracted from the letter:
. . . Clovelly was in rare form.--Don't run away with the idea
that he's eating his heart out because you came in just ahead in the
race for Miss Treherne. For my part--but, never mind!--You had
phenomenal luck, and you will be a phenomenal fool if you don't
arrange for an early marriage. You are a perfect baby in some
things. Don't you know that the time a woman most yearns for a man
is when she has refused him? And Clovelly is here on the ground,
and they are in the same set, and though I'd take my oath she would
be loyal to you if you were ten thousand miles from here for ten
years, so far as a promise is concerned, yet remember that a promise
and a fancy are two different things. We may do what's right for
the fear o' God, and not love Him either. Marmion, let the marriage
bells be rung early--a maiden's heart is a ticklish thing. . . .
But Clovelly was in rare form, as I said; and the bookmaker, who
had for the first time read a novel of his, amiably quoted from it,
and criticised it during the dinner, till the place reeked with
laughter.
Pages:
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316