'
'I can't be discreet, sir, because I don't know anything about
him.'
'When I heard,' said the Duke smiling, 'of your being in close
conference with Sir Timothy--'
'I, sir?'
'Yes, you. Mr Boncassen told me that you and he were so deeply
taken up with each other at his house that nobody could get a word
with either of you.'
'Have you seen Mr Boncassen?' asked the son, whose attention was
immediately diverted from his father's political badinage.
'Yes;--I have seen him. I happened to meet him where I was dining
last Sunday, and he walked home with me. He was so intent upon
what he was saying that I fear he allowed me to take him out of
his way.'
'What was he talking about,' said Silverbridge. All his
preparations, all his eloquence, all his method, now seemed to
have departed from him.
'He was talking about you,' said the Duke.
'He had told me that he wanted to see you. What did he say, sir?'
'I suppose you can guess what he said. He wished to know what I
thought of the offer you have made to his daughter.' The great
subject had come up so easily, so readily, that he was almost
aghast when he found himself in the middle of it.
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