Page:Hilda Wade (1900).pdf/74

'You really want to get rid of this other fellow?' I asked, seeing my chance.

'Get rid of him? Why, of course! Chuck him into the river some nice dark night if I could once get a look at him!'

'As a preliminary step, would you mind letting me see one of Miss Montague's letters?' I inquired.

He drew a long breath. 'They're a bit affectionate, you know,' he murmured, stroking his beardless chin in hesitation. 'She's a hot 'un, Sissie is. She pitches it pretty warm on the affection-stop, I can tell you. But if you really think you can give the other Johnnie a cut on the head with her letters—well, in the interests of true love, which never does run smooth, I don't mind letting you have a squint, as my friend, at one of her charming billy-doos.'

He took a bundle from a drawer, ran his eye over one or two with a maudlin air, and then selected a specimen not wholly unsuitable for publication. 'There's one in the eye for C.,' he said, chuckling. 'What would C. say to that, I wonder? She always calls him C., you know; it's so jolly non-committing. She says, 'I only wish that beastly old bore C. were at Halifax—which is where he comes from and then I would fly at once to my own dear Reggie! But, hang it all, Reggie boy, what's the good of true love if you haven't got the dibs? I must have my comforts. Love in a cottage is all very well in its way; but who's to pay for the fizz, Reggie?' That's her refinement, don't you see? Sissie's awfully refined. She was brought up with the tastes and habits of a lady.'

'Clearly so,' I answered. 'Both her literary style and her liking for champagne abundantly demonstrate it!' His acute sense of humour did not enable him to detect the