self-assurance to announce frankly, “Well, I do mind telling you, as a matter of fact!” But ... twenty-five[16] shillings a week don’t provide a girl with much self-assurance! [16] I could only let him have the literal answer in return for his direct (and unwarrantable) question. “Oh, no; I’m not engaged.” “Good!” said Still Waters briskly. (Why “good”?) “Now, Miss Trant, I can tell you the reason—or part of the reason—I sent for you this afternoon. I must begin by impressing upon you very definitely that”—here he paused, and at each word of the announcement tapped solemnly on the big desk with his finger—“I don’t want to get married myself.” “Of course not!” I almost gasped, wondering what in the world this very obvious truth (for one could not imagine Still Waters in connection with marriage or engagements) had got to do with me? “At the same time, there are reasons why for a time, at least—say a year—it should appear that I was going to be married. I may tell you those reasons later on; that depends. At present I’ll merely tell you that it is important to me that I should be officially, that is nominally, engaged.” I gazed at him. There was no more expression in his face than in the pearl pin in his expensive-looking grey tie. What could he mean? [17] [17] “I wish it to appear to everybody—to my family, to my acquaintances, to the people in this office—that I am actually engaged,” he explained. “I wish to find someone who, to outward appearances, could take the place of my fiancée; could go about with me, stay at my home, and be introduced all round as the girl I meant to marry. She must understand from the very beginning that it was absolutely a matter of business; that the so-called ‘engagement’ would terminate at the end of the year, and that there could be no possible question of its ending in marriage. If I found this lady, I would make it worth her while; paying her at the rate of ten pounds a week for her services. You follow me, Miss Trant?” I began to “follow,” but I could scarcely believe that he really intended to carry out this mysterious scheme. It was more like
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