g
there, to Miss Mackenzie's room, and escorting her. He would have
to escort Miss Baker also; and things, as he thought, were looking
well with him. At last he rose to go, but he made good use of the
privilege of parting. He held Miss Mackenzie's hand, and pressed it.

"You mustn't be angry," he said, "if I tell you that you are the best
friend I have in the world."

"You have better friends than me," she said, "and older friends."

"Yes; older friends; but none,--not one, who has done for me so much
as you have; and certainly none for whom I have so great a regard.
May God bless you, Miss Mackenzie!"

"May God bless you, too, Mr Rubb!"

What else could she say? When his civility took so decorous a shape,
she could not bear to be less civil than he had been, or less
decorous. And yet it seemed to her that in bidding God bless him with
that warm pressure of the hand, she had allowed to escape from her an
appearance of affection which she had not intended to exhibit.

"Thank you; thank you," said he; and then at last he went.

She seated herself slowly in her own chair near the window,--the
chair in which she was accustomed to sit for many solitary hours, and
asked herself what it all meant. Was she allowing herself to fall in
love with Mr Rubb, and if so, was it well that it should be so? This
would be bringing to the sternest proof of reality her philosophical
theory on social life. It was all very well for her to hold a bold
opinion in discussions with Miss Baker as to a "man being a man
for a' that," even though he might not be a gentleman; but was she
prepared to go the length of preferring such a man to all the world?
Was she ready to go down among the Rubbs, for now and ever, and give
up the society of such women as Miss Baker? She knew that it was
necessary that she should come to some resolve on the matter, as
Mr Rubb's purpose was becoming too clear to her. When an unmarried
gentleman of forty tells an unmarried lady of thirty-six that she is
the dearest friend he has in the world, he must surely intend that
they shall, neither of them, remain unmarried any longer. Then
she thought also of her cousin, John Ball; and some vague shadow
of thought passed across her mind also in respect of the Rev. Mr
Maguire.

CHAPTER XI

Miss Todd Entertains Some Friends at Tea

I believe that a desire to get married is the natural state of a
woman at the age of--say from twenty-five to thirty-five, and I thi