“Pleased to meet you, Commander Elliott,” said Mrs. Bilton.  “Mr. Twist, your brandy is on the verandah.  Shall I bring it to you in here?”

“No thank you, Mrs. Bilton.  I’ll go out there presently.  Perhaps you wouldn’t mind waiting for me there—­I don’t suppose Mr. Elliott will want to keep me long.  Come in, Mr. Elliott.”

And having disposed of Mrs. Bilton, who was in a particularly willing and obedient and female mood, he motioned Elliott into the office.

There stood Anna-Felicitas.

Elliott stopped dead.

“This isn’t fair,” he said, his eyes twinkling and dancing.

“What isn’t?” inquired Anna-Felicitas gently, beaming at him.

“Your being here.  I’ve got to talk business.  Look here, sir,” he said, turning to Mr. Twist, “could you talk business with her there?”

“Not if she argued,” said Mr. Twist.

“Argued!  I wouldn’t mind her arguing.  It’s just her being there.  I’ve got to talk business,” he said, turning to Anna-Felicitas,—­“business about marrying you.  And how can I with you standing there looking like—­well, like that?”

“I don’t know,” said Anna-Felicitas placidly, not moving.

“But you’ll interrupt—­just your being there will interrupt.  I shall see you out of the corner of my eye, and it’ll be impossible not to—­I mean I know I’ll want to—­I mean, Anna-Felicitas my dear, it isn’t done.  I’ve got to explain all sorts of things to your guardian—­”

“He isn’t my guardian,” corrected the accurate Anna-Felicitas gently.  “He only very nearly once was.”

“Well, anyhow I’ve got to explain a lot of things that’ll take some time, and it isn’t so much explain as persuade—­for I expect,” he said, turning to Mr. Twist, “this strikes you as a bit sudden, sir?”

“It would strike anybody,” said Mr. Twist trying to be stern but finding it difficult, for Elliott was so disarmingly engaging and so disarmingly in love.  The radiance on Anna-Felicitas’s face might have been almost a reflection caught from his.  Mr. Twist had never seen two people look so happy.  He had never, of course, before been present at the first wonderful dawning of love.  The whole room seemed to glow with the surprise of it.

“There.  You see?” said Elliott, again appealing to Anna-Felicitas, who stood smiling beatifically at him without moving.  “I’ve got to explain that it isn’t after all as mad as it seems, and that I’m a fearfully decent chap and can give you lots to eat, and that I’ve got a jolly little sister here who’s respectable and well-known besides, and I’m going to produce references to back up these assertions, and proofs that I’m perfectly sound in health except for my silly foot, which isn’t health but just foot and which you don’t seem to mind anyhow, and how—­I ask you how, Anna-Felicitas my dear, am I to do any of this with you standing there looking like—­well, like that?”