young man, if you'd only look at the thing fairly."

He had plenty of humour in him, but he did not seem to perceive the
humour of acting as showman to himself. He was evidently sincere.

"Why, now, one of my most lovable qualities is just that when I do
attach myself I find it awful hard to pull loose again. Now, that's just
what you don't like in me; but if you come to think of it, it's a real
nice characteristic. And then, again, I'm not cranky; I'm real amiable;
and you can't find a much nicer looking fellow than me. You'll be sorry,
you may believe, if you don't cast a more favourable eye toward me."

She did not reply, so he continued urging. "If it's because you're stuck
up, it must have been those poor English Rexfords put it into your head,
for you couldn't have had such ideas before you came here. Now, if
that's the barrier between us, I can tell you it needn't stand, for I
could have one of those two pretty young ladies of theirs quick as not.
If I said 'Come, my dear, let's go off by train and get married, and ask
your father's blessing after,' she'd come."

"How dare you tell me such a falsehood!" Eliza rose magnificently.

"Oh," said he, "I meet them occasionally."

She looked at him in utter disdain. She did not believe him; it was only
a ruse to attract her.

"How do you know," she asked fiercely, "what ideas I could have had or
not before I went to the Rexfords?"