Part 65 (1/2)
”Oh, no, you won't,” Madeline answered. ”You will have lots of company, and any amount of excitement.”
”Oh, I don't know. Father is beginning to think more about the climate than anything else. He fancies that New York winters try his health, and what I fear is he'll steer the _Skylark_ away down into the South Seas somewhere, and stick there.”
”Well, wouldn't that be very jolly?”
”I don't know. It might be jolly miserable. It all depends on one's company. If you'll promise to go with us, I won't raise any more objections.”
”Have you been raising objections?”
”Tons. I much prefer wintering in New York City.”
”I should like to visit the South Seas very much,” Madeline said, meditatively, ”only----,” then she hesitated.
”Only what?”
”Well, the truth is, I am going to be a home-bird,” Madeline answered, with a slight tinge of colour in her cheeks.
”Oh, that's all fiddlesticks. You haven't a single tie on all this continent. You are your own mistress; you can do precisely what you like without any one calling you to account, and----”
”I admit all you say,” Madeline answered, with a smile. ”Nevertheless, it is quite true that what appeals to me most is a quiet life in my own little home.”
”I wonder you don't get married.”
”Well, you see,” Madeline answered, blus.h.i.+ng slightly, ”the man I expected to marry did not come up to my expectations.”
”But surely one hailstone doesn't make a winter.”
”That is quite true. But perhaps one gets suspicious as one gets older.”
”You have had offers enough, I am sure.”
”Have I? How knowing you are, Kitty.”
”Oh, one needn't be a philosopher to put two and two together. By the bye, do you ever hear anything of your rejected suitor?”
”Occasionally. He's recently had another big disappointment.”
”In the matrimonial line?”
”It seems so.”
”Oh, do tell me all about it.”
”Well, you know I get all my news through dear old Mr. Graythorne. The Tregonys have dropped me altogether, as you know.”
”Yes, you've told me that before.”
”Well, it would seem that Captain Tregony, soon after his return from Nice last year, fell in love with a widow lady, and they were to have been married some time this fall.”
”Yes.”