'No;' he replied. 'I will take you down. When will you go?' He had cockered himself up with some vain idea that the railway carriage would be a good place for the declaration of his purpose, or perhaps the sands at Lowestoft.
'When will I go? when will you take me? You have Boards to attend, and shares to look to, and Mexico to regenerate. I am a poor woman with nothing on hand but Mrs Pipkin's baby. Can you be ready in ten minutes?--because I could.' Paul shook his head and laughed. 'I've named a time and that doesn't suit. Now, sir, you name another, and I'll promise it shall suit.' Paul suggested Saturday, the 29th. He must attend the next Board, and had promised to see Melmotte before the Board day. Saturday of course would do for Mrs Hurtle. Should she meet him at the railway station? Of course he undertook to come and fetch her.
Then, as he took his leave, she stood close against him, and put her cheek up for him to kiss. There are moments in which a man finds it utterly impossible that he should be prudent,--as to which, when he thought of them afterwards, he could never forgive himself for prudence, let the danger have been what it may. Of course he took her in his arms, and kissed her lips as well as her cheeks.