But he was only the more bewildered. "Can you—without arranging with me?"
She turned it round, but as if merely to oblige him. "That's precisely what I want to do." Then, more brightly, as she thought further: "That is, I mean, I want you to arrange with me. Surely you will," she said encouragingly.
His own processes, in spite of a marked earnestness, were much less rapid. "But if I arrange with anybody———"
"Yes?" She cheerfully waited.
"How do I perform my engagement?"
"The one to Mr. Prodmore?"
He looked surprised at her speaking as if he had half-a-dozen. "Yes—that's the worst."
"Certainly—the worst!" And she gave a happy laugh that made him stare.
He broke into quite a different one. "You speak as if its being the worst made it the best!"
"It does—for me. You don't," said Mrs. Gracedew, "perform any engagement."
He required a moment to take it in; then something extraordinary leaped into his face. "He lets me off?"
Ah, she could ring out now! "He lets you off."
It lifted him high, but only to drop him with
