"Georgie"
In suggesting this I felt that a diplomatist of the first water had been lost to the courts of Europe.
Georgie set his teeth as I had expected.
"I'm hanged if I will," said he. "I'd rather lose the other one. I'm not going to behave like a cad to Violet. It'd break her heart. You don't know what a lot that girl thinks of me."
"Perhaps, "I suggested mildly, "she, too, may have changed her mind. She may welcome the idea of a—release."
Georgie's face grew crimson.
"On the contrary," said he, "she's absolutely wrapped up in me. And I've not changed my mind. I love her every bit as much as I did when I proposed to her."
"Be a man," said I softly, "and get it over. Break it off."
"Thank you," said he loftily, "I prefer to behave like a gentleman and keep it on."
"With both of them?" I suggested mildly.
14
