Thirty AN URGENT SUMMONS

Loraine, playing with a small and delectable¹ puppy, was somewhat sur-prised when Bundle rejoined her after an absence of twenty minutes, in abreathless state and with an indescribable expression on her face.
“Whoof,” said Bundle, sinking on to a garden seat. “Whoof.”
“What’s the matter?” asked Loraine, looking at her curiously².
“George is the matter—George Lomax.”
“What’s he been doing?”
“Proposing to me. It was awful. He spluttered and he stuttered, but hewould go through with it—he must have learnt it out of a book, I think.
There was no stopping him. Oh, how I hate men who splutter! And, unfor-tunately, I didn’t know the reply.”
“You must have known what you wanted to do.”
“Naturally I’m not going to marry an apologetic idiot like George. What Imean is, I didn’t know the correct reply from the book of etiquette³. I couldonly just say flatly: ‘No, I won’t.’ What I ought to have said was somethingabout being very sensible of the honour he had done me and so on and soon. But I got so rattled⁴ that in the end I jumped out of the window andbolted.”
“Really, Bundle, that’s not like you.”
“Well, I never dreamt of such a thing happening. George—who I alwaysthought hated me—and he did too. What a fatal thing it is to pretend totake an interest in a man’s pet subject. You should have heard the drivelGeorge talked about my girlish mind and the pleasure it would be to formit. My mind! If George knew one quarter of what was going on in mymind, he’d faint with horror!”
Loraine laughed. She couldn’t help it.
“Oh, I know it’s my own fault. I let myself in for this. There’s Fatherdodging round that rhododendron. Hallo, Father.”
Lord Caterham approached with a hangdog expression.
“Lomax gone, eh?” he remarked with somewhat forced geniality⁵.
“A nice business you let me in for,” said Bundle. “George told me he hadyour full approval and sanction.”
“Well,” said Lord Caterham, “what did you expect me to say? As a mat-ter of fact, I didn’t say that at all, or anything like it.”

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