Part 11 (2/2)
He smiled in his droll fashi+on and replied, ”Because, interesting as this household is in sundry ways, I think it is about tiot out of it”
”Your leg isn't fit to travel yet, Ansob, although Rodd says that all the symptoms are very satisfactory”
”Yes, but to tell you the truth I a other symptoms quite unknown to that beloved physician and so unfamiliar to myself that I attribute them to the influences of the locality Altitude affects the heart, does it not, and this house stands high”
”Don't play off your jokes on me,” I said sternly ”What do you mean?”
”I wonder if you find Miss Heda attractive, Allan, or if you are too old I believe there coe when the only beauties that can move a man are those of architecture, or scenery, or properly cooked food”
”Hang it all! I am not Methusaleh,” I replied; ”but if youin love with Heda, why the deuce don't you say so, instead of wasting iven to us to waste Properly considered it is the best use to which it can be put, or at any rate the one that does least mischief Also because I wished to e from the effect of your words whether it is or is not true I may add that I fear the former to be the case”
”Well, if you are in love with the girl you can't expect one so ancient as myself, who is quite out of touch with such follies, to teach you how to act”
”No, Allan Unfortunately there are occasions when one must rely upon one's oisdoet out of this But I can't ride even if I took the horse and you ran behind, and the oxen haven't come”
”Perhaps you could borrow Miss Marnhaested sarcastically
”Perhaps, though I believe it would be fatal to my foot to sit up in a cart for the next few days, and the horses seem to have been sent off so his bantering tone, ”it's rather aard to ed to some one else, especially if one suspects that with a little encouragein to walk the same road The truth is I have taken the fever pretty bad, worse than ever I did before, and if it isn't stopped soon it will become chronic”
”Oh no, Ansob, only intermittent at the worst, and African e of cliynist to understand the simple fervour of an inexperienced soul-Oh! drat it all, Quatermain, stop your acid chaff and tell ht place”
”Very; so tight that I rejoice to think, as you were kind enough to point out, thatof the sort I have no advice to give; I think you had better ask it of the lady”
”Well, we did have a little conversation, hypothetical of course, about some friends of ours who found theret to say without result”
”Indeed I did not know you had any mutual acquaintances What did she say and do?”
”She said nothing, only sighed and looked as though she were going to burst into tears, and all she did was to walk away I'd have followed her if I could, but as my crutch wasn't there it was iainst a brick wall, that there was so on her mind which she could not or would not let out”
”Yes, and if you want to knoill tell you what it is Rodd has got a hold over Marnhaallows As the price of his silence Marnhahter knows that her father is in this h I think she does not knoay, and being a good girl-”
”An angel you ht naels are so el if you like-she has promised on her part to marry a man she loathes in order to save her parent's bacon”
”Just what I concluded, from e heard in the roonder which of that pair is the bigger blackguard Well, Allan, that settles it You and I are on the side of the angel You will have to get her out of this scrape and-if she'll have me, I'll marry her; and if she won't, why it can't be helped Now that's a fair division of labour How are you going to do it? I haven't an idea, and if I had, I should not presume to interfere with one so much older and wiser than myself”
”I suppose that by the tiame of heads I win and tails you lose had died out of the world,” I replied with an indignant snort ”I think the best thing I can do will be to take the horse and look for those oxen Meanwhile you can settle your business by the light of your native genius, and I only hope you'll finish it without murder and sudden death”
”I say, old fellow,” said Ansob earnestly, ”you don't really o off and leave me in this hideousness? I haven't bothered much up to the present because I was sure that you would find a way out, which would be nothing to a man of your intellect and experience I mean it honestly, I do indeed”
”Do you? Well, I can only say thatI will try to think theflowers I will go to help her, which will be a very pleasant change”