"I'm a
plain-spoken man," he went on, with a hardening voice,
"and people must take me as they find me. All I said was,
in substance, that I intended to be of service to you--and
that that ought to interest you."
The General seemed to have digested his pique.
"And what I was trying to say," he commented deferentially,
"was that I thought I saw ways of being of service to you.
But that did not seem to interest you at all."
"How--service?" Thorpe, upon consideration, consented to ask.
"I know my daughter so much better than you do,"
explained the other; "I know Plowden so much better; I am
so much more familiar with the whole situation than you can
possibly be--I wonder that you won't listen to my opinion.
I don't suggest that you should be guided by it, but I
think you should hear it."
"I think so, too," Thorpe declared, readily enough.
"What IS your opinion?"
General Kervick sipped daintily at his glass, and then gave
an embarrassed little laugh. "But I can't form what you
might call an opinion," he protested, apologetically,
"till I understand a bit more clearly what it is you
propose to yourself. You mustn't be annoyed if I return
to that--'still harping on my daughter,' you know.
If I MUST ask the question--is it your wish to marry her?"
Thorpe looked blankly at his companion, as if he were thinking
of something else.
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