Then I found
you, Elfride, and l felt for the first time that my fastidiousness
was a blessing. And it helped to make me worthy of you. I felt
at once that, differing as we did in other experiences, in this
matter I resembled you. Well, aren't you glad to hear it,
Elfride?'
'Yes, I am,' she answered in a forced voice. 'But I always had
thought that men made lots of engagements before they married--
especially if they don't marry very young.'
'So all women think, I suppose--and rightly, indeed, of the
majority of bachelors, as I said before. But an appreciable
minority of slow-coach men do not--and it makes them very awkward
when they do come to the point. However, it didn't matter in my
case.'
'Why?' she asked uneasily.
'Because you know even less of love-making and matrimonial
prearrangement than I, and so you can't draw invidious comparisons
if I do my engaging improperly.'
'I think you do it beautifully!'
'Thank you, dear. But,' continued Knight laughingly, 'your
opinion is not that of an expert, which alone is of value.'
Had she answered, 'Yes, it is,' half as strongly as she felt it,
Knight might have been a little astonished.
'If you had ever been engaged to be married before,' he went on,
'I expect your opinion of my addresses would be different. But
then, I should not----'
'Should not what, Harry?'
'Oh, I was merely going to say that in that case I should never
have given myself the pleasure of proposing to you, since your
freedom from that experience was your attraction, darling.
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