"I'd like to know how I am going to hinder her," said Mr Brandon.

"Hinder her!" exclaimed Colonel Macon. "Nothing easier in this world,
sir! Just you turn right square round, and face her, sir; and you'll
see that she'll stop short, sir; and, what's more, she'll run, sir!"

"How am I to face her?" asked Mr Brandon. "I have faced her, and I
assure you, sir, she didn't run."

"That was because you did not go to work in the right way," said the
colonel. "Now, if I were in your place, sir, this is what I would do.
I'd turn on her and I'd scare her out of all the wits she has left.
I'd say to her: 'Madam, I think your proposition is an excellent one.
I am ready to marry you to-day, or, at the very latest, to-morrow
morning. I'll come to your house, and bring a clergyman, and some of
my friends. Don't let there be the least delay, for I desire to start
immediately for New York, and to take you with me.' Now, sir, a note
like that would frighten that old woman so that she would leave her
house, and wouldn't come back for six weeks; and the letter you have
just burned would be the last attack she would make on you. Now, sir,
that is what I would do if I were in your place."

Mr Brandon sat down, drained his tumbler of egg-nogg, and began to
think of what his friend had said. And, as he thought of it, the
conviction forced itself upon him that this idea of Colonel Macon's
was a good one; in fact, a splendid one. Now that he came to look upon
the matter more clearly than he had done before, he saw that this
persecution on the part of the Widow Keswick was not only base, but
cowardly. He had been entirely too yielding, had given way too much.
Yes, he would face her! By George! that was a royal idea! He would
turn round, and make a dash at her, and scare her out of her five
senses.

Pens, ink, and paper were brought out; more egg-nogg was ordered; and
Mr Brandon, aided and abetted by Colonel Macon, wrote a letter to Mrs
Keswick.

This letter took a long time to write, and was very carefully
constructed. With outstretched hands, Mr Brandon met the old lady on
the very threshold of her proposition. He stated that nothing would
please him better than an immediate wedding, and that he would have
proposed it himself had he not feared that the lady would consider him
too importunate. (This expression was suggested by Colonel Macon.)
In order that they might lose no time in making themselves happy, Mr
Brandon proposed that the m