Page:Alice Lauder.pdf/257

“Are you engaged to Piper? Tell me the truth, I beg of you.”

“Engaged to the professor? Certainly not!”

“But he told me so himself.”

“Oh no! you are making some strange mistake.”

“He told me that you were going home with him, and that it had been a long engagement.”

A light broke in over the situation, and Alice replied, half laughing, but angry too.

“He means that I am engaged to sing the soprano part in his cantata at the festival next spring. It is an old promise, and I am glad that I can fulfil my part of it now. He could not get his music taken up before this, and now I am just ready to sing again.”

“Why, what a fool I have been! Of course he meant that, and he is a fine old chap after all. I did feel surprised that you should have taken him, but I thought it was all your old love of a musical career. Well, now the coast is clear, and it won't take me long to say two words. Will you have me instead? We have known each other a long time now, and I have never seen anyone like you. I have thought of you all these years, though I really didn’t know how much I cared. Tell me now—you will—won’t you?”