"I've given you one reason," said Ben. "'Capable women' remain free."
"Every woman should be married," said Guy.
"Especially Melanie," said Ben, laughing. But Guy did not laugh. His face clouded.
"Oh, my hat!" he said. "That's what I came to talk to you about. Before I went home even. By the way, how is the governor?"
"Just the same," said Ben. "His capacity for bearing other people's calamities with fortitude, as somebody said, develops every day."
"Oh, she's all right," said Ben; "you'll like her."
"Does she let the governor touch it?" asked Guy.
"How little you seem to know of your own father!" said Ben. "And I thought of you as a wise child."
"I may have been once," said Guy, "but that's all over. Oh, the mess I've been getting into!"
"What kind of a mess?" Ben asked anxiously.
"No, I wish it was. No, I've--well, the fact is, Ben, my dear, I'm engaged."
"I know that," said Ben. "You've been engaged for years. Don't Melanie and I live together, and don't I see her watching for the postman?"
"Oh, cut that out," said Guy, with a groan. "That's not the engagement I mean. I'm engaged to someone else, someone I met on the boat."
"My dear Guy," said Ben, "this is awful."
"Can't you break off the new affair?" Ben asked.
"I suppose I could if I wanted to," said Guy. "But I don't. I'm potty about her. The other thing was a ghastly mistake. Surely," he went on, "you would rather I discovered the mistake while there was yet time than go on with it and ruin both our lives? I know it sounds like a novel, but you know what I mean."
"Yes," said Ben, "I quite agree with that. But I wonder if it hasn't been too quick for you to be sure about yourself? You've known one girl five years and the other less than five weeks."
"That's true," said Guy. "But I don't think time means much. What about love at first sight?"
"I know," said Ben. "But liner love--especially Indian liner love--is supposed to be particularly misleading."
"This isn't," said Guy firmly. "This is the goods. I may be impulsive," he went on, "but I'm not an ass; at any rate I'm not a silly ass. I've kept my eyes open, and I'll bet you that for every marriage that has gone wrong after a very short engagement I can show you two that have gone equally wrong after a long one."