the gentleman.
And now comes my grand difficulty in this business--in fact, the little
stipulation I have to make."

He stopped, and ran his fingers through his hair, in all directions; his
features fidgetting and distorting themselves ominously, while he looked
at me.

"Pray explain yourself, Mr. Sherwin. Your silence gives me some
uneasiness at this particular moment, I assure you."

"Quite so--I understand. Now, you must promise me not to be
huffed--offended, I should say--at what I am going to propose."

"Certainly not."

"Well, then, it may seem odd; but under all the circumstances--that is
to say, as far as the case concerns you personally--I want you and my
dear girl to be married at once, and yet not to be married exactly, for
another year. I don't know whether you understand me?"

"I must confess I do not."

He coughed rather uneasily; turned to the table, and poured out another
glass of sherry--his hand trembling a little as he did so. He drank off
the wine at a draught; cleared his throat three or four times after it;
and then spoke again.

"Well, to be still plainer, this is how the matter stands: If you were
a party in our rank of life, coming to court Margaret with your father's
full approval and permission when once you had consented to the year's
engagement, everything would be done and settled; the bargain would
have been struck on both sides; and there would be an end of it. But,
situated as you are, I can't stop here safely--I mean, I can't end the
agreement exactly in this way."

He evidently felt that he got fluent on wine; and helped himself, at
this juncture, to another glass.

"You will see what I am driving at, my dear Sir, directly," he
continued. "Suppose now, you came courting my daughter for a year, as
we settled; and suppose your father found it out--we should keep it a
profound secret of course: but still, secrets are sometimes found out,
nobody knows how. Suppose, I say, your father got scent of the thing,
and the match was broken off; where do you think Margaret's reputation
would be? If it happened with somebody in her own station, we might
explain it all, and be believed: but happening with somebody in yours,
what would the world say? Would the world believe you had ever intended
to marry her? That's the point--that's the point precisely."

"But the case could not happen--I am astonished you can imagine it
possible. I have told you already, I am of age."

"Properly urg