"Can't I really--?" she whispered in his ear.
"Certainly not. If you were a married woman, possibly--"
"Well, but I am engaged," she murmured.
The Prophet stopped short.
"Engaged!" he said. "To whom?"
"Sir Tiglath."
"Engaged to Sir Tiglath!"
"Yes. He proposed to me to-night at Zoological House."
"Why?"
She might well have resented the question, but perhaps she divined the
distraught and almost maniacal condition of mind that the Prophet masked
beneath his impassive demeanour. At any rate she answered frankly,--
"Because he didn't find out I'm Miss Minerva, and in the midst of Mrs.
Bridgeman's silly world I stood right out as the only sensible creature
living. Isn't it fun?"
"Fun!"
"Yes. I always meant him to propose to me."
"Why?"
"Because I always thought it would be supremely idiotic of me to accept
him."
The Prophet felt that if he listened to another remark of such a nature
his brain would snap and he would instantly be taken with a tearing fit
of hysterics. He therefore turned round and slowly ascended to the first
floor.
"Kindly step into the drawing-room," he said, having first, by a rapid
glance, assured himself that Malkiel was not changing Mr.
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