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Again I drew a full breath of relief, and I saw by Alb's face that he, too, hoped for the best, for whatever his private feelings might be he is too good a sportsman not to feel the spirit of a race. We were out of the lock, our propeller churning the water, but again there was a "but."
There were no dykes built round my resolve to propose to Nell within the space of four and twenty hours; and between Alb's eloquence and the L.C.P.'s persistence, it dissolved like a Dutch town in an inundation. Still I was not as furious as I ought to have been. My steeples and chimneys remained above water, and the sky was so cloudless that I could not despair.
Perhaps Alb's heart has been caught in the rebound; but, lest it hasn't, and he undertakes to cut me out with Nell, it is necessary that I lose no time in using my best wiles with her. While Phyllis was hanging in the balance, she was as desirable as a rosy apple just out of reach; but now that she is smugly satisfied to be in the hands of another her ethereal charm is fled.
He did come out, in a neat bathing-suit, desiring us to follow him into the house, where we might amuse ourselves until he was dressed, wandering among his treasures in the drawing-room. The luncheon in the quaint old house, the stroll through the grounds and the hour in the museum, were among Alb's successes; but I was past grudging it to him; besides, he flaunted no triumphant airs.
Just because I could not be sure which one the somebody was, and whether he were more likely to prevail, after this coup d'état, I was uneasy in my mind, with the new knowledge of Alb's greatness. What are my dollars to his beautiful old houses, and a mother who is the daughter of an English earl?
"You wanted to hear it, didn't you?" she asked, when Nell had drifted away to the twins, whose society, though not enlivening, she apparently preferred to poor Alb's. "I've waited so long, that I could have waited a little longer," I said, following the copper-gold head with wistful eyes. "This is your gratitude!" exclaimed the L.C.P. "You don't seem to realize that I've saved you."
Doubtless Alb had at last gone below to the motor-room, and was exchanging the blue overalls for something more decorous. Would he, even for the sake of conventionality, have left her at such a moment unless everything were settled? "Mascotte" and "Waterspin" were at rest, and I could avail myself of Alb's absence to find out if I liked. I was not at all sure that I did like.
Fawther's took wiv the jumps, I hear, and Alb's gone to the Pav to give her hair. Oh, the fine gentleming I seed his poor toes through his bloomin' boots this night, s'welp me Gawd I did." The admission was received with a shout of laughter from the window above, where a red-haired girl leaned pensively upon the rail of a broken balcony.
And why should I let you and your stupid suspicions make trouble between a very good fellow and and the girl he's in love with?" This time I did not meet Alb's eyes. I was looking straight and with a noble defiance into Sir Alec's. "You are very high and mighty," said he. "But I'm not to be fooled again by either of you.
"In fact, I would have preferred you to think me responsible, as long as the route proved satisfactory. Of course, whenever anything went wrong, I should have casually let drop that it was Alb's idea. But, as you mention the subject in his presence, I must admit that he has made several suggestions, and I've humored him by adopting them, subject to your approval."
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