"There
was he grinding his heart out for her, and just because a more
brazen-throated scoundrel came upon the scene she must needs
leave our poor friend in the lurch. She has no more heart than
my boot, and she will come to a bad end."
"But he was such a fool," retorted my sage damsel, with a flash
of laughter in her dark eyes. "If he wanted her, why didn't he
go up and take her?"
"Because he is a gentleman, a cicada of fine and delicate
feeling."
"_Hou!_" laughed Carlotta. "He was a fool. It served him right.
She grew tired of waiting."
"You believe, then," said I, "in marriage by capture?"
I explained and discoursed to her of the matrimonial habits of
the Tartar tribes.
"Yes," said Carlotta. "That is sense. And it must be such fun
for the girl. All that, what you call it?--wooing?--is waste of
time. I like things to happen, quick, quick, one after the
other--or else--"
"Or else what?"
"To do nothing, nothing but lie in the sun, like this afternoon."
"Yes," said I dreamily, after I had again thrown myself by her
side.
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