at the pen with a
delicious assumption of the professional manner.

"Make him a _little_ bit interesting, Martin! He must be interesting.
Is he tall? Is he handsome? I insist that he is thin and clean shaven.
And charming, too--he must certainly be charming, or she wouldn't have
qualms, and at the least she must feel qualms! ... No girl could even
imagine giving up a fortune for a dull man with a beard. Suppose you
made him an author like yourself, so that he had _something_ to offer on
his own accord, such as a reputation which she would be proud to share!
Then on _his_ side would be love, fame, home, and on hers, ambition,
wealth--"

"Opportunity--?"

"Humph!" Grizel stroked her chin. "In a sense! It's a fact though,
Martin,--humiliating as it is to acknowledge,--that man is the medium
through which a woman discovers every possibility worth having. The
opportunities which come apart from him are only makeshifts. I think
we'll rule out opportunity... Won't he, at least, give her the
_choice_?"

"I think not. He is not such an ass as to consider himself worth the
sacrifice. The only decent thing he can do is to efface himself, and
stand by ready to help her whenever he can be of use."

"Humph!" commented Grizel again. "Admirable--but dull. _How_ mad
she'll be! ... It's just as I said, Martin--you don't understand your
own sex. You need me to write the man-ey bits. What he should really
do, is to take her in his arms, and say, `Thirty-thousand-a-year!
Thirty thousand _pounds_'--her light voice suddenly swelled into
earnestness. `Ah! but I've more than that,--a better offer to make
you!' And he should hold her tight, tight, and laugh,--a strong man's
laugh, and look in her eyes, and cry: `_You are mine_! All the fortunes
in the world could not buy you. All the fortunes in the world could not
keep you. You belong to _me_! ... Leave your empty palace, and come
_Home_, and as you are a true woman, and worth loving, I'll give you
more, far, far more than you ever dreamt,--ever imagined--'"

The soft voice broke: she wheeled suddenly round, hiding her face, but
Martin leaped after her, seized her by the arms:

"Grizel--_Grizel_!"

Her face quivered into tears.

"Oh! Oh! you _made_ me do it; and I vowed I wouldn't!--If I'm worth
having, I'm worth asking, and oh, Martin--I've _waited_!"

"Grizel, Grizel!" cried Martin again. She was in his arms, she clung to
him, sobbing with the abandonme