I
proposed to her in this very room! Lord! I remember how frightened I
was." He stopped for an instant, and then said with a certain timidity,
"Do you mind my telling you something about it?"
Mrs. Horncastle was hardly prepared to hear these ingenuous domestic
details, but she smiled vaguely, although she could not suppress a
somewhat impatient movement with her hands. Even Barker noticed it, but
to her surprise moved a little nearer to her, and in a half-entreating
way said, "I hope I don't bore you, but it's something confidential. Do
you know that she first REFUSED me?"
Mrs. Horncastle smiled, but could not resist a slight toss of her head.
"I believe they all do when they are sure of a man."
"No!" said Barker eagerly, "you don't understand. I proposed to her
because I thought I was rich. In a foolish moment I thought I had
discovered that some old stocks I had had acquired a fabulous value. She
believed it, too, but because she thought I was now a rich man and she
only a poor girl--a mere servant to her father's guests--she refused me.
Refused me because she thought I might regret it in the future, because
she would not have it said that she had taken advantage of my proposal
only when I was rich enough to make it."
"Well?" said Mrs. Horncastle incredulously, gazing straight before her;
"and then?"
"In about an hour I discovered my error, that my stocks were worthless,
that I was still a poor man.
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