Oh dear, what a
nice fire, and what a nice little snug room; how is it, will you tell me,
that though my room is much larger and better furnished in every way, your
room is always brighter and neater, and more like a little home? They fetch
you drier firewood, and they bring you flowers, wherever they get them. I
know well what devices of roguery they practise.'

'Shall I give you tea?'

'Of course I'll have tea. I expect to be treated like a favoured guest in
all things, and I mean to take this arm-chair, and the nice soft cushion
for my feet, for I warn you, Kate, I'm here for two hours. I've an immense
deal to tell you, and I'll not go till it's told.'

'I'll not turn you out.'

'I'll take care of that; I have not lived in Ireland for nothing. I have
a proper sense of what is meant by possession, and I defy what your great
Minister calls a heartless eviction. Even your tea is nicer, it is more
fragrant than any one else's. I begin to hate you out of sheer jealousy.'

'That is about the last feeling I ought to inspire.'

'More humility; but I'll drop rudeness and tell you my story, for I have a
story to tell. Are you listening? Are you attentive? Well, my Mr. Walpole,
as you called him once, is about to become so in real earnest. I could have
made a long narrative of it and held you in weary suspense, but I prefer
to dash at once into the thick of the fray, and tell you that he has this
morning made me a formal proposal, and I have accepted him. Be pleased to
bear in mind that this is no case of a misconception or a mistake. No young
gentleman has been petting and kissing my hand for another's; no tender
speeches have been uttered to the ears they were not meant for. I have been
wooed this time for myself, and on my own part I have said Yes.'

'You told me you had accepted him already. I mean when he was here last.'

'Yes, after a fashion. Don't you know, child, that though lawyers maintain
that a promise to do a certain thing, to make a lease or some contract, has
in itself a binding significance, that in Cupid's Court this is not law?
and the man knew perfectly that all passed between us hitherto had no
serious meaning, and bore no more real relation to marriage than an outpost
encounter to a battle. For all that has taken place up to this, we might
never fight--I mean marry--after all. The sages say that a girl should
never believe a man means marriage till he talks money to her. Now, Kate,
he talked money;