id Jane, laughing
spitefully. "You never had any pity for me when I could not think of the
proper thing to say at a moment's notice."

Agatha let the taunt pass unheeded. Her gaze wandered anxiously, and at
last settled appealingly upon Sir Charles. "What shall I do?" she said
to him.

"Well, Miss Wylie," he said gravely, "if you did not mean to marry him
you should not have promised. I don't wish to be unsympathetic, and I
know that it is very hard to get rid of Trefusis when he makes up his
mind to act something out of you, but still--"

"Never mind her," said Jane, interrupting him. "She wants to marry
him just as badly as he wants to marry her. You would be preciously
disappointed if he cried off, Agatha; for all your interesting
reluctance."

"That is not so, really," said Agatha earnestly. "I wish I had taken
time to think about it. I suppose he has told everybody by this time."

"May we then regard it as settled?" said Sir Charles.

"Of course you may," said Jane contemptuously.

"Pray allow Miss Wylie to speak for herself, Jane. I confess I do
not understand why you are still in doubt--if you have really engaged
yourself to him."

"I suppose I am in for it," said Agatha. "I feel as if there were some
fatal objection, if I could only remember what it is. I wish I had never
seen him."

Sir Charles was puzzled. "I do not understand ladies' ways in these
matters," he said. "However, as there seems to be no doubt that you and
Trefusis are engaged, I shall of course say nothing that would make it
unpleasant for him to visit here; but I must say that he has--to say
the least--been inconsiderate to me personally. I signed a paper at his
house on the implicit understanding that it was strictly private,
and now he has trumpeted it forth to the whole world, and publicly
associated my name not only with his own, but with those of persons of
whom I know nothing except that I would rather not be connected with
them in any way."

"What does it matter?" said Jane. "Nobody cares twopence."

"_I_ care," said Sir Charles angrily. "No sensible person can accuse
me of exaggerating my own importance because I value my reputation
sufficiently to object to my approval being publicly cited in support of
a cause with which I have no sympathy."

"Perhaps Mr. Trefusis has had nothing to do with it," said Agatha. "The
papers publish whatever they please, don't they?"

"That's right, Agatha," said Jane maliciously. "Don't le