"Would you really go?" she cried. "Do you mean it, Duncan?"

"I only wish," I replied, "that it were to Australia."

"But then you would be weeks too late."

"Ah, that's another story! I may be too late as it is."

Her brightness clouded on the instant; only a gleam of annoyance pierced
the cloud.

"Too late for what, may I ask?"

"Everything except stopping the banns."

"Please don't talk nonsense, Duncan. Banns at nineteen!"

"It is nonsense, I agree; at the same time the minor consequences will
be the hardest to deal with. If they are being talked about, well, they
are being talked about. You know Bob best: suppose he is making a fool
of himself, is he the sort of fellow to stop because one tells him so? I
should say not, from what I know of him, and of you."

"I don't know," argued Catherine, looking pleased with her compliment.
"You used to have quite an influence over him, if you remember."

"That's quite possible; but then he was a small boy, now he is a grown
man."

"But you are a much older one."