Part 24 (1/2)
”Oh, yes, I know; but then I discovered you.”
”Ah, but a still higher honour belongs to me, for I discovered you,”
retorted Henry. ”When you consider that I discovered three such wonderful persons as you and Angel and Mike, don't you think, on the whole, that I'm singularly modest?”
”Do you love me?” said Esther, presently, quite irrelevantly.
”Do you love _me_?”
”I asked first.”
”Well, for the sake of argument, let us say 'yes.'”
”How much?”
”As big as the world.”
”Oh, well, then, let's have some Benedictine with the coffee!” said Esther.
”I've thought of something better, more 'sacramental,'” said Henry, smiling, ”but you couldn't conscientiously drink it with me. It's the red drink of perfect love. Will you drink it with me?”
”Of course I will.”
So the waiter brought a bottle bearing the beautiful words, ”_Parfait Amour_.”
”It's like blood,” said Esther; ”it makes me a little frightened.”
”Would you rather not drink it?” asked Henry. ”You know if you drink it with me, you must drink it with no one else. It is the law of it that we can only drink it with one.”
”Not even with Mike?”
”Not even with Mike.”
”What of Angel?”
”I will drink it with no one but you as long as I live.”
”I will drink it then.”
They held up their gla.s.ses.
”Dear old Esther!”
”Dear old Henry!”
And then they laughed at their solemnity. It was deeply sworn!
When Esther reached home that evening, she found a further telegram from Mike, announcing his arrival at Euston; and she had scarcely read it when she heard her father's voice calling her. She went immediately to the dining-room.