Letts cleared his throat and spoke.
"There's no need to be like a monkey-on-a-stick, and at the same time
there's no need to be sulky," he pointed out; "there's a happy medium."
"Like you, I s'pose?" said the frantic suitor. "Like me," said the
other, gravely. "Now, you watch; fall in behind and watch."
He drew Miss Foster's arm through his and, leaning towards her with
tender deference, began a long conversation. At the end of ten minutes
Mr. Widden intimated that he thought he had learned enough to go on with.
"Ah! that's only your conceit," said Mr. Letts over his shoulder. "I was
afraid you was conceited."
He turned to Miss Foster again, and Mr. Widden, with a despairing
gesture, abandoned himself to gloom. He made no further interruptions,
but at the conclusion of the walk hesitated so long on the door-step that
Mr. Letts had to take the initiative.
"Good-night," he said, shaking hands. "Come round to-morrow night and
I'll give you another lesson. You're a slow learner, that's what you
are; a slow learner."
He gave Mr. Widden a lesson on the following evening, but cautioned him
sternly against imitating the display of brotherly fondness of which, in
a secluded lane, he had been a wide-eyed observer.
"When you've known her as long as I have--nineteen years," said Mr.
Letts, as the other protested, "things'll be a bit different.
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