"
"Yes," he answered, "or the best of allies." Then he gave the clubs and
half-a-crown to the caddies, and when they were out of hearing, added,
"Miss Champers, I have been wondering for some time whether it is
possible that you would become such an ally to me."
"I know nothing of business, Sir Robert; my tastes do not lie that way."
"You know well that I was not speaking of business, Miss Champers. I was
speaking of another kind of partnership, that which Nature has ordained
between men and women--marriage. Will you accept me as a husband?"
She opened her lips to speak, but he lifted his hand and went on.
"Listen before you give that ready answer which it is so hard to recall,
or smooth away. I know all my disadvantages, my years, which to you may
seem many; my modest origin; my trade, which, not altogether without
reason, you despise and dislike. Well, the first two cannot be changed
except for the worse; the second can be, and already is, buried beneath
the gold and ermine of wealth and titles. What does it matter if I am
the son of a City clerk who never earned more than L2 a week and was
born in a tenement at Battersea, when I am one of the rich men of this
rich land and shall die a peer in a palace, leaving millions and honours
to my children? As for the third, my occupation, I am prepared to give
it up.
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