relations you could
look to for help, and while my health is pretty good I can't, of
course, live for ever. I might leave you something, but it would not
be much, because my property is earmarked for a particular purpose."

Millicent wondered where this led, but Mrs. Keith went on: "As you have
found out, I'm a frank old woman and not afraid to say what I think.
Well, considering how attractive you are, there's a way out of the
difficulty, and I believe it's the best one. You ought to marry; it's
your true vocation."

"I'm not sure," said Millicent, blushing. "Besides it mightn't be
possible. I owe everything to your generosity, but you have brought me
into a station where I must stand comparison with girls who have more
advantages."

"You mean they have more money? Well, it's not to be despised, but
I've met men who didn't attach too much importance to it. They had the
sense to see there were other things of greater value, and while I
don't often flatter people, you're not poor in this respect. But if
you liked a man who was far from rich, would you marry him?"

"It would depend," Millicent replied, while her colour deepened. "Why
do you ask? I can't give you a general answer."

"Then give me a particular one; I want to know."

The girl was embarrassed, but she had learned that her employer was not
to be put off easily.

"I suppose his being poor wouldn't daunt me, if I loved him enough."

"Then we'll suppose something else. If he had done something to be
ashamed of?"

Millicent looked up with a flash in her eyes. "People are so ready to
believe the worst. He did nothing that he need blush for--that's
impossible." Then she saw the trap into which her generous indignation
had led her, but instead of looking down in confusion she boldly faced
Mrs. Keith. "Yes," she added, "if he loved me, I would marry him in
spite of what people are foolish enough to think."

"And you would not regret it." Mrs. Keith laid her hand on the girl's
arm with a caressing touch. "My dear, if you value your happiness, you
will tell him so. Remember that he is going away in a day or two."

"How can I tell him?" Millicent cried with burning face. "I only--I
mean you tricked me into telling you."

"It shouldn't be difficult to give him a tactful hint, and that
wouldn't be a remarkably unusual course," Mrs. Keith rejoined with
amusement. "The idea that a proposal comes quite spontaneously is to
some extent a conve