“Have you indeed?” said Currie.

“Secured it for the fifteenth.  Now the question is-”

“What do you think,” said Glossop, interrupting him without the slightest hesitation.  “Mounser Green is going to Patagonia, in place of the poor Paragon.”

“I beg to congratulate Mr. Green with all my heart.”

“By George I don’t,” said the juvenile clerk.  “Fancy congratulating a fellow on going to Patagonia!  It’s what I call an awful sell for everybody.”

“But as I was saying I have the hall for the fifteenth.”

“You mean to lecture then after all,” said Green.

“Certainly I do, I am not going to be deterred from doing my duty because I am told there is a little danger.  What I want to know is whether I can depend on having a staff of policemen.”

“Of course there will be police,” said Green.

“But I mean some extra strength.  I don’t mind for myself, but I should be so unhappy if there were anything of a commotion.”  Then he was assured that the officers of the police force would look to that, and was assured also that Mounser Green and the other gentlemen in the room would certainly attend the lecture.  “I don’t suppose I shall be gone by that time,” said Mounser Green in a melancholy tone of voice.

CHAPTER XII

“I must go”

Rufford, March 5th.

My Dear Miss Trefoil,

I am indeed sorry that I should have offended you by acceding to a suggestion which, I think I may say, originated with your mother.  When she told me that her circumstances and yours were not in a pecuniary point of view so comfortable as they might be, I did feel that it was in my power to alleviate that trouble.  The sum of money mentioned by my lawyer was certainly named by your mother.  At any rate pray believe that I meant to be of service.

As to naming a place where we might meet, it really could be of no service.  It would be painful to both of us and could have no good result.  Again apologizing for having inadvertently offended you by adopting the views which Lady Augustus entertained, I beg to assure you that I am,

                    Yours faithfully,
                         Rufford.

This letter came from the peer himself, without assistance.  After his interview with Lady Augustus he simply told his Mentor, Sir George, that he had steadfastly denied the existence of any engagement, not daring to acquaint him with the offer he had made.  Neither, therefore, could he tell Sir George of the manner in which the young lady had repudiated the offer.  That she should have repudiated it was no doubt to her credit.  As he thought of it afterwards he felt that had she accepted it she would have been base indeed.  And. yet, as he thought of what had taken place at the house in Piccadilly, he was confident that the proposition had in some way come from her mother.