"I have come to help you," he said, in that voice of his that sounds so
sure of a welcome you can't snub him. "But where are you going?"
"I don't know," I said, a little forlornly, and then bent down and
vigorously collected photographs.
"Oh, but you can't go to London by yourself!" he said, aghast. "Look
here, I will come up with you, and take you to my aunt, Lady Merrenden.
She is such a dear, and I am sure when I have told her all about you she
will be delighted to take care of you for some days until you can hunt
round."
He looked such a boy, and his face was so kind, I was touched.
"Oh no, Lord Robert! I cannot do that, but I thank you. I don't want to
be under an obligation to any one," I said, firmly. "Mr. Carruthers
suggests a way out of the difficulty--that I should marry him, and stay
here. I don't think he means it, really, but he pretends he does."
He sat down on the edge of a table already laden with books, most of
which overbalanced and fell crash on the floor.
"So Christopher wants you to marry him--the old fox?" he said,
apparently oblivious of the wreck of literature he had caused. "But you
won't do that, will you? And yet I have no business to say that. He is a
dam good friend, Christopher."
"I am sure you ought not to swear so often, Lord Robert; it shocks me,
brought up as I have been," I said, with the air of a little angel.
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