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Soon after two, in consequence, Jane was in the stable
yard, putting the finishing touches of perfection to her
loved one. And she had just twiddled at a nut with
her spanner - for like all girls with a proper sense of duty
towards their cars, she was a confirmed nut twiddler -
and was starting to tighten it again, with a view to
leaving it exactly as it had been before she touched it,
when a shadow falling upon the flagstones at her side
informed her that she was no longer alone and, looking
up, she perceived Joe. He was gazing down at her with
an expression that was half indulgent, like that of an
affectionate father watching his idiot child disport itself,
and half worshipping, as of one regarding a goddess.

'So here you are, young Ginger.'

'Yes,' said Jane.

She spoke a little brusquely, for she always disliked to
be interrupted when communing with her Widgeon.
Moreover, from the very inception of their acquaintance,
Joe Vanringham had revealed himself as a man who
proposed early and often, and she could see by his face,
on which the worshipping expression had now begun to
predominate to a rather marked extent, that he was about
to propose again. This she wished, if possible, to prevent.

'Busy?'

'Very.'

He lighted a cigarette and surveyed her lovingly.

'What a messy little creature you are, to be sure,' he
said. 'I suppose you know you've got a spot of oil on the
tip of your nose?'

'I can wash it off.'

'But think of the wear and tear. Why put it there in
the first place? What are you doing?'

'Working.'

'To some specific end, or just mucking around?'

'If you really want to know, Buck is going up to London,
and I am getting the car ready to take him to
Walsingford.'

Joe whistled.

'Walsingford, the Forbidden City? Are you really going
to try to get there? No wonder you're tuning up the
engine. Well, take plenty of pemmican, and be sure of
your water supply. It was owing to the water giving out
that Doctor Livingstone failed to get to Walsingford in
'66. It's a pity, though.'

'Why?'
'I was hoping that you might have been free this
afternoon to help me with a statue or two. The
fascination of your society has caused me to fall behind
in my work of late. The day before yesterday, snatching
a few moments before breakfast I moustached up as far
as the tenth plug-ugly from the end, but yesterday was a
blank day. However, the job is progressing.'

'That's nice.'

'I thought you would be pleased. Yes, I'm getting along.
Several of them - notably Marcus Aurelius and the god
Jupiter - outsmarted me by being already whiskered to
the eyebrows, but I have had good results with Julius
Caesar and Apollo, and should welcome your critical
opinion. And now,' said Joe, 'to a more tender and
sentimental subject.'

'Oh, golly!'

'You spoke?'

'I said "Oh, golly!'" Jane rose and tucked the spanner
away in its box. 'Are you really going to start that all
over again?'

'I don't know what you mean by "start all over
again". I've never stopped. Haven't you noticed how I keep
on asking you to marry me? Every day. As regular as
clockwork.'

'And haven't you noticed how, every time you do it, I
tell you I'm engaged to someone else ?'

'That has not escaped me, but I don't pay very much
attention to it. In the manuscripts I used to read for dear
old Busby, until our paths separated, the heroine was
always engaged to someone else at the start. I wish I could
have brought along a few of those manuscripts.'

'Good stuff?'

'Terrific. From a man steeped in their contents as I am,
no method of ensnaring the female heart is hidden. I know
just how it's done. I shall rescue you from a burning house,
or from drowning, or from bulls, or from mad dogs, or
from tramps, or from runaway horses. Or I might save
your kitten.'

'I haven't a kitten.'

'A kitten shall be provided. I tell you, young Ginger - '
'Do ... not... call me Ginger.'
'I tell you, young Jane, it is hopeless for you to try to
escape me. You are as good as walking up the aisle
already. You shake your head? Just you wait. A time will
come - and shortly - when you will be doing so in order
to dislodge the deposits of rice and confetti which have
gathered in your lovely hair. If I were you, I'd cease to
struggle.'

'Oh, I think I'll go on.'

'Just as you please, of course. But you're wasting your
time. I feel that nothing is too good for you, and I intend
that you shall have the best of husbands. And, believe
me, you're going to get a pippin. One of the nicest chaps
I know - loving, devoted, rich, fascinating - '

'Whom did you ever fascinate?'

'Whom didn't I? I bowl them over in their thousands.

Did you notice Mrs Folsom at dinner last night?'

'What about her?'

'The way she looked at me when I was doing that
balancing trick with the nut crackers and the wineglass.
Poor, foolish moth, I said to myself.'

'I noticed the way Buck looked at you. He values that
set of wineglasses.'

'It would take more than broken glassware to queer
me with Buck.'

'He does seem fond of you, certainly. I wonder why?'

'That could have been phrased more tactfully. Yes, he
esteems me as highly as I esteem him: Dear old Buck,
there is nothing he would like better than to have me as
a son-in-law, bless him.'

'What makes you think that?'

'He told me so, when I approached him yesterday to
ask his formal permission to pay my addresses to you.'

'You didn't!'

'I certainly did. I'm old-fashioned. I disapprove of the
casual modern practice of letting the girl's father in on
the thing only in the vestry after the ceremony. Buck
would simply love to have me as a son-in-law. But how
can this be managed while you persist in that
extraordinary habit of yours of refusing me every time I
propose? I think I will now have another pop. You may
have changed your mind since I last spoke.'

'I haven't.'