"He tells me," said Miss Callis, "that you are to give him his answer at
Cologne."
"Does he, indeed?" said I. We were floating down the Rhine in the
society of our friends, two hundred and fifty other floaters, and a
string band. We had left the battlements of Bingen, and the Mouse Tower
was in sight. As we had already acquired the legend, and were sitting
behind the smoke stack, there was no reason why we should not discuss
Mr. Mafferton.
"I suppose he does not, by any chance, mention an alternative lady," I
said carelessly.
"I don't know," said Miss Callis, "that I should be disposed to listen
to him if he did. He would have to put it in some other light."
"Why should you object?" I asked. "Isabel is quite a proper person to
marry him. Much more so, I often think, than I."
"Oh!" said Miss Callis without meaning to. "I think he has outgrown that
taste. In fact, he told me so."
"He is for ever seeking a fresh bosom for a confidence!" I cried.
Miss Callis looked at me with more interest than she would have wished
to express.
"What do you really think of him?" she asked. "I sometimes feel as if I
had known you for years," and she took my hand.
I gave hers a gentle pressure, and edged a little nearer. "He has good
shoulders," I remarked critically.
"You would hardly marry him for his _shoulders_!"
"It doesn't seem quite enough," I admitted, "but then--his information
is always so accurate."
"If you think you would like living with an encyclopedia." Miss Callis
had begun to look embarrassed by my hand, but I still permitted it to
nestle confidingly in hers.
"He pronounces all his g's," I said, "and--did you ever see him in a
silk hat?"
"I don't think you are really attached to him, dear." (The "dear" was a
really creditable sacrifice to the situation.)
"I sometimes think," I murmured, "that one never knows one's own heart
until some sudden circumstance puts it to the test. Now if I had a
rival--in you, for instance--and I suddenly saw myself losing--but, of
course, that is impossible so far as you are concerned. Because of the
Count."
"The Count isn't in it," said Miss Callis firmly. "At least at present."
"But," I protested, "somebody must provide for him! I was so happy in
the thought that you had undertaken it."
Miss Callis gave me back my hand. She looked as if she would have liked
to throw it overboard.
"As you say," she said, "it is a little difficult to make up one's mind.
Don't you think those rocks to the right may be the Lorelei? I must go
and tell Mrs. Malt. She won't be fit to travel with for a week if she
misses the Lorelei." And Miss Callis left me to reflect upon the
inconsistencies of my sex.
"Do you realise," said Dicky, as, with an assumed air of nonchalance, he
sauntered up and took her chair, "that we shall be in Cologne in five
hours?"
"Fateful Cologne," I said. "There are Roman remains, I believe, as well
as the Cathedral and the scent. Also a Museum of Industrial Art, but
we'll skip that."
"We'll skip all of it," replied Mr. Dod, with determination, "you and I
and Isabel. The train for Paris leaves at nine precisely."
"Haven't you made up your minds to let me off," I pleaded. "I am sure
you would be happier alone. It's so unusual to elope with two ladies."
"You don't seem to realise how Isabel has been brought up," Dicky
returned patiently. "She can't travel alone with me, don't you see,
until we are married. Afterwards she'll chaperone you back to your party
again. So it will be all right for _you_, don't you see?"
I was obliged to say I saw, and we arranged the details. We would reach
Cologne about six, and Isabel and I, who would share a room as usual,
were secretly to pack one bag between us, which Dicky would smuggle out
of the hotel and send to the station. Isabel was to be fatigued and dine
in her room; I was to leave the _table d'hôte_ early to solace her,
Dicky was to dine at a _café_ and meet us at the station. We would put
out the lights and lock the door of the apartment on our departure, and
the chambermaid with hot water in the morning would be the first to
discover our flight. We only regretted that we could not be there to see
the astonishment of the chambermaid. "I won't fail you," I assured Mr.
Dod, "but what about Isabel? Isabel is essential; in fact, I won't
consent to this elopement without her."
"Isabel," said Dicky dubiously, "is all right, so far as her intentions
go. But she'd be the better for a little stiffening. Would you mind----"
I groaned in spirit, but went in search of Isabel, thinking of phrases
that might stiffen her. I found her looking undecided, with a pencil and
a slip of paper.
"How lucky you are," I said diplomatically, sinking into the nearest
chair, "to be going to wind up your trip on the Continent in such a
delightful way. It will be--ah--something to remember all your life."
"Oh, I suppose so," said Isabel plaintively, "but I should _so_ much
prefer to be done in church. If mamma would only consent!"
"She never would," I declared, for I felt that I must see Isabel Mrs.
Dod within the next day or two at all costs.
"A registry office sounds so uninteresting. I suppose one just goes--as
one is."
"I don't think veils and trains are worn," I observed, "except by
persons of high rank who do not approve of the marriage service. I don't
know what the Marquis of Queensberry might do, or Mr. Grant Allen."
"Of course, the ceremony doesn't matter to _them_," replied Isabel
intelligently, "because they would just wear morning dress _anywhere_."
"Looking at it that way, they haven't much to lose," I conceded.
"And no wedding cake," grieved Isabel, "and no reception at the house of
the bride's mother. And you can't have your picture in the _Queen_."
"There would be a difficulty," I said, "about the descriptive part."
"And no favours for the coachman, and no trousseau----"
"I wonder," I said, "whether, under those circumstances, it's really
worth while."
"Oh, well!" said Isabel.
"It's a night to Paris, and a morning to Dover," I said. "We will wait
for the others at Dover--I fancy they'll hurry--that'll be another day.
I'll take one _robe de nuit_, Isabel, three pocket handkerchiefs, one
brush and comb, and tooth brush. You shall have all the rest of the
bag."
"You are a perfect love," exclaimed Miss Portheris, with the most
touching gratitude.
"We will share the soap," I continued, "until you are married.
Afterwards----"
"Oh, you can have it then," said Isabel, "of course," and she looked at
the Castle of Rheinfels and blushed beautifully.