Without preamble I gave out the text of the address I was about to
deliver to him.
"I love your daughter Phyllis, Mr. Derrick. She loves me. In fact, we
are engaged," I said.
He went under as if he had been seized with cramp. It was a little
trying having to argue with a man, of whom one could not predict with
certainty that at any given moment he would not be under water. It
tended to spoil one's flow of eloquence. The best of arguments is
useless if the listener suddenly disappears in the middle of it.
|