ter obligation. He could
find, even if he wished one, no excuse for unfulfillment.

Michael and his mother talked for a time of the engagement. She was
still somewhat doubtful of Alan's youth, when called upon to adapt
itself to Stella's temperament.

"I think you're wrong there," said Michael. "Alan is rather a rigid
person in fundamentals, you know, and his youth will give just that
flexibility which Stella would demand. In another five years he would
have been ensconced behind an Englishman's strong but most unmanageable
barrier of prejudice. I noticed so much his attitude toward Mrs. Ross
when she was received into the Roman Church. I asked him what he would
say if Stella went over. He maintained that she was different. I think
that's a sign he'll be ready to apply imagination to her behavior."

"Yes, but I hope he won't think that whatever she does is right," Mrs.
Fane objected.

"Oh, no," laughed Michael. "Imagination will always be rather an effort
for Alan. Mother, would you be worried if I told you I wanted to go away
for a while--I mean to say, go away and perhaps more or less not be
heard of for a while?"

"Abroad?" she asked.

"Not necessarily abroad. I'm not going to involve myself in a dangerous
undertaking; but I'm just sufficiently tired of my very comfortable
existence to wish to make an experiment. I may be away quite a short
time, but I might want to be away a few months. Will you promise me not
to worry yourself over my movements? Some of the success of this
undertaking will probably depend on a certain amount of freedom. You can
understand, can't you, that the claims of home, however delightful,
might in certain circumstances be a problem?"

"I suppose you're taking steps to prepare my mind for something very
extremely unpleasant," she said.

"Let's ascribe it all to my incurably romantic temperament," Michael
suggested.

"And I'm not to worry?"

"No, please don't."

"But when are you going away?"

"I'm not really going away at all," Michael explained. "But if I didn't
come back to dinner one night or even the next night, would you be
content to know quite positively that I hadn't been run over?"

"You're evidently going to be thoroughly eccentric. But I suppose," she
added wistfully, "that after your deserted childhood I can hardly expect
you to be anything else. Yet it seems so comfortable here." She was
looking round at the chairs.

"I'm not proposing to go to the North Pole, y