looked at me.
“Pray explain yourself, Mr. Sherwin. Your silence gives me some uneasiness at this particular moment, I assure you.”
“Quite so—I understand. Now, you must promise me not to be huffed—offended, I should say—at what I am going to propose.”
“Certainly not.”
“Well, then, it may seem odd; but under all the circumstances—that is to say, as far as the case concerns you personally—I want you and my dear girl to be married at once, and yet not to be married exactly, for another year. I don’t know whether you understand me?”
“I must confess I do not.”
He coughed rather uneasily; turned to the table, and poured out another glass of sherry—his hand trembling a little as he did so. He drank off the wine at a draught; cleared his throat three or four times after it; and then spoke again.