Indiscretion (45 page)

‘There is assuredly a time for not talking. But now, Miss Fortune, I must ask you for a formal answer, for as this is the only proposal I ever intend making I don’t want it wasted
—
though you must excuse my not going down on bended knee in the approved fashion — constriction and motion of the hackney-carriage makes it at the very least inadvisable, you know
—
risk of being pitched forward and inadvertently anticipating the intimacies of the wedding-night—’

‘Oh, Stephen,’ she cried, laughing and weak, ‘you mustn’t keep
—
keep
blinding
me with words!’

‘It’s the only thing I can do.’ (With melancholy resignation.)

‘Why?’

‘Well, I would prefer to do the blinding with a kiss, for example: but I can’t rely on my powers to do so.’ (In a tone of frank explanation.)

‘Understandable: but if you wish to make the experiment, I shall submit.’ (Sturdily.)

‘Very well: thank you, I shall try: though I have no great hopes
...’

‘Stephen?’

‘Yes, my darling?’

‘I can’t see a bloody thing.’