"And you are her guardian, you know, and----" "Why not propose to her yourself ?" says the professor, turning violently upon him.

"Why give me this terrible task?
Are you a coward, that you shrink from learning your fate except at the hands of another--another who----" "To tell you the truth, that is it," interrupts Hardinge, simply.

"I don't wonder at your indignation, but the fact is, I love her so much, that I fear to put it to the touch myself.

You _will_ help me, won't you?
You see, you stand in the place of her father, Curzon.

If you were her father, I should be saying to you just what I am saying now." "True," says the professor.