"Yes," he said, "certainly."

"I merely asked to be sure of the weight you gave it. Go on."

"In a practical way, as I was saying. Long ago I suspected that you had
most of those qualities."

"I'm overwhelmed, Humphrey," she cried, with her eyes dancing. "But--do
you think I could cultivate the rest?"

"Oh, well," said Mr. Crewe, I put it that way because no woman is
perfect, and I dislike superlatives."

"I should think superlatives would be very hard to live with," she
reflected. "But--dreadful thought!--suppose I should lack an essential?"

"What--for instance?"

"Love--for instance. But then you did not put it first. It was I who
mentioned it, and you who took it for granted."

"Affection seems to be a more sensible term for it," he said. "Affection
is the lasting and sensible thing. You mentioned a partnership, a word
that singularly fits into my notion of marriage. I want to be honest with
you, and understate my feelings on that subject."

Victoria, who had been regarding him with a curious look that puzzled
him, laughed again.

"I have been hoping you haven't exaggerated them," she replied.

"They're stronger than you think," he declared. "I never felt this way in
my life before. What I meant to say was, that I never understood running
away with a woman."

"That does not surprise me," said Victoria.

"I shouldn't know where to run to," he proclaimed.

"Perhaps the woman would, if you got a clever one. At any rate, it
wouldn't matter. One place is as good as another. Some go to Niagara, and
some to Coney Island, and others to Venice. Personally, I should have no
particular preference."

"No preference!" he exclaimed.

"I could be happy in Central Park," she declared.

"Fortunately," said Mr. Crewe, "you will never be called upon to make the
trial."

Victoria was silent. Her thoughts, for the moment, had flown elsewhere,
but Mr. Crewe did not appear to notice this. He fell back into the
rounded hollow of the bench, and it occurred to him that he had never
quite realized that profile. And what an ornament she would be to his
table.

"I think, Humphrey," she said, "that we should be going back."

"One moment, and I'll have finished," he cried. "I've no doubt you are
prepared for what I am going to say. I have purposely led up to it, in
order that there might be no misunderstanding. In short, I have never
seen another woman with personal characteristics so well suited for my
life, and I wa