Jim returned to the fire and Tui, unabashed. He was bent on proposing; and Tui, by some peculiar instinct, purely feminine, knew it. What is more, she intended to let him have his say. Lately it had dawned upon her that it was possible to play her fish too long. He might sulk away from the hook; and she had no intention of allowing that to happen. So she sat, and looked at the fire, and Jim sat and looked at her; while the hearts of both beat a lively rataplan, utterly incommensurate with so tranquil an occupation.
"I say!" began Jim, gracefully. "You don't think Mrs. Purcell's on her hind legs? Do you?"
"Oh no!" responded Tui, still confining her interest to the fire. "Women never get on their--I mean, never lose their tempers."
"Don't they?" said Aldean (this as a simple interrogation, not an assertion).
"Of course not. I am a woman; I ought to know. How silly you are."
"She made the same remark about me. She stole the word, you know, from Boswell, who got it from Johnson. It seems we are both of us"--Tui sighed--"'unideaed.'"
"It's a kind of bond between us, isn't it?"
"Dear me, Lord Aldean, how should I know?" (Silence for a few moments, during which, the ordinary medium for conversation proving unsuitable, recourse was had to certain more subtle means--chiefly ocular. Finally, a combination seemed to be decided upon.)
Aldean (gloomily): "I hate Dr. Johnson; don't you?"
Tui (viciously): "Not so much as I do Boswell--the nasty Poll-Pry."
Aldean: "So he is--so he was! That's another bond between us" (insinuatingly), "ain't it?"
Tui (repeating herself): "How should I know, Lord Aldean?" (Silence.)
Aldean (desperately) "Do--do you think that marriages are made in heaven?"
Tui (faintly): "I--I have heard that they are."
Aldean (speculating): "I wonder when they--whoever they are--will set about manipulating ours?"
Tui (with a maidenly perturbation): "Ours, Lord Aldean! What do you mean by ours?"
Aldean (moving his chair closer): "You know!" (No answer.) "I'm sure you know."
Tui: "Ridiculous." (Deserts the fire for the hearthrug.)
Aldean (intercepting the field of view): "Tui! Oh" (with a gasp) "Tui!" Certain physical demonstrations followed, amid which the dental emissions necessary for the iteration of the name "Tui" crackled like volleys from a machine-gun.