“Captain Lovelace, I believe you had forgot me?” she rallied him.

“Never!” he answered promptly. “Not though you well-nigh broke my heart!”

“No, no! I did not do that. I never meant to hurt you.”

He shook his head disbelievingly.

“You rejected me to marry some other man: do you say you did not mean to?”

“You naughty Harry!⁠ ⁠… You never married yourself?”

“I?” The delicate features expressed a species of hurt horror. “I marry? No! I was ever faithful to my first love.”

She unfurled her fan, fluttering it delightedly.

“Oh! Oh! Always , Harold? Now speak the truth!”