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290
Zuleika Dobson; Or, An Oxford Love Story
·
Sir Max Beerbohm
264
“Wear
it,”
he
said.
“You
mean--?”
She
leapt
to
her
feet.
“That
we
are
engaged.
I
hope
you
don’t
think
we
have
any
choice?”
She
clapped
her
hands,
like
the
child
she
was,
and
adjusted
the
ring.
“It
is
very
pretty,”
she
said.
“It
is
very
simple,”
he
answered
lightly.
“But,”
he
added,
with
a
change
of
tone,
“it
is
very
durable.
And
that
is
the
important
thing.
For
I
shall
not
be
in
a
position
to
marry
before
I
am
forty.”
A
shadow
of
disappointment
hovered
over
Katie’s
clear
young
brow,
but
was
instantly
chased
away
by
the
thought
that
to
be
engaged
was
almost
as
splendid
as
to
be
married.
“Recently,”
said
her
lover,
“I
meditated
leaving
Oxford
for
Australia.
But
now
that
you
have
come
into
my
life,
I
am
compelled
to
drop
that
notion,
and
to
carve
out
the
career
I
had
first
set
for
myself.
A
year
hence,
if
I
get
a
Second
in
Greats--and
I
SHALL”
he
said,
with
a
fierce
look
that
entranced
her--“I
shall
have
a
very
good
chance
of
an
assistant-mastership
in
a
good
private
school.
In
eighteen
years,
if
I
am
careful--and,
with
you
waiting
for
me,
I
SHALL
be
careful--my
savings
will
enable
me
to
start
a
small
school
of
my
own,
and
to
take
a
wife.
Even
then
it
would
be
more
prudent
to
wait
another
five
years,
no
doubt.
But
there
was
always
a
streak
of
madness
in
the
Noakses.
I
say
‘Prudence
to
the
winds!’”
“Ah,
don’t
say
that!”
exclaimed
Katie,
laying
a
hand
on
his
sleeve.
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