“You cheat yourself, which is far worse than cheating other people. It isn’t all your fault, but it’s time you stopped. I know you think you’re in love with Ramsay— perhaps you are. I don’t think so. Yes, that’s a pretty beastly thing to say, isn’t it? It’s necessary though. You believe in the thing you either want to believe in, or that your—other people—expect you to believe in. You’ve read sickly trash, and you’re susceptible to glamour. There’s glamour about Ramsay; it’s caught you. Ask yourself, child, whether you would still be in love with him if he were on the Stock Exchange.”

“Yes!”

“Then you ’re in love, and I withdraw all I have said.”

“You don’t believe me?”

“No, I don’t. You haven’t learned the meaning of love yet, but your mind has become a kind of sentimental sponge which makes it receptive to a fancied emotion. Do you see what I mean?”

“I’d rather not see,” Elizabeth said frigidly.

“I know that. It’s your attitude towards everything that’s unpleasant. But I warn you, Elizabeth—and I speak as one who’s very fond of you—that sooner or later you’ll have to face unpleasantness. Your rosy, gossamer little world’ll be torn up, and it’ll be a shock. I don’t want to see you hurt in that way. Facts have a way of forcing themselves upon you; you’d better face ’em now, and start being honest. And, Elizabeth, I hate to see you cheating yourself. It’s rotten, and it’s cowardly.”

Her underlip trembled; he wondered whether she were about to cry.

“I don’t see what—all this—has got to do with—my engagement!”

“Everything. With all his faults, Ramsay’s honest— as honest as a man can be. A bit blind, perhaps, but sincere. Doesn’t it rather stand to reason that you’ll be in danger of clashing?”

“Stephen knows me better than you do!”

He smiled in boundless wisdom.

“He will, child, certainly. He’s in love with you now, and being an idealist—almost a romantic, I think—he doesn’t see any faults in you. When a man’s deeply in love, he doesn’t.”

“I think you’re being—unkind and—and cruel, Mr. Hengist.”

“I expect you do, and I’m sorry. If I didn’t love you I shouldn’t bother to upset you. I want you to consider well before you plunge into marriage with Ramsay. If you’re really in love with him incompatibility of temperament and ideals won’t matter. If you’re not—well, your chance of happiness is slender.”

Elizabeth tried to capture dignity, but her voice quivered.

“It—seems to me, Mr. Hengist, that you think—Stephen has made a mistake.”