He looked younger than his years; he was beautiful, innocent, vague.
"Oh, well, I'M not!" he rang out clear.
"I should like to SEE you, sir!" she said.

"For you wouldn't have a shadow of excuse." He showed how he agreed that he would have been at a loss for one, and the fact of their serenity was thus made as important as if some danger of its opposite had directly menaced them.

The only thing was that if the evidence of their cheer was so established Mrs.
Assingham had a little to explain her original manner, and she came to this before they dropped the question.

"My first impulse is always to behave, about everything, as if I feared complications.

But I don't fear them--I really like them.