“But I am not a callow boy who is so likely to fall in love with a pretty face,” the Duke went on, “and I am not so half-baked as to think that a girl straight out of the schoolroom is likely to be amusing or know anything about the subjects that interest me.”
Harry started to speak, but the Duke put out his hand to stop him.
“Let me finish,” he said. “I have thought this out carefully. As I have no wish to have a wife who is promiscuous, I am obliged to marry somebody young. I shall hope that she is intelligent enough to make herself pleasant not only to me but to my friends and, if she has been well brought up, she will grace the end of my table and learn with few mistakes to be a good hostess.”
“I accept all that,” Harry said, “but what about when you are alone together?”
There was
