not have been greatly surprised had I suddenly stood upon my
head and attempted to recite the Jabberwock backward. I at once told him
of my love for Muriel, and of her feelings toward me, and asked his
consent to our marriage. "It is a bit sudden, I'll admit, Sir," I
concluded, "but none the less real and true for all that."

"But, my dear Sir," gasped the Major, evidently very much taken aback by
my flow of words, and my earnest and somewhat excited manner, "I hardly
know you. How can you expect me to reply to such a question, to give my
consent to your marriage with my daughter, when I know absolutely
nothing of your position, your prospects, or your income?"

I expected his objections and answered them at once. "You are quite
right, Sir, of course," I answered. "As for my income, I am making close
to a thousand pounds a year from my profession, which, as you may know,
is that of an illustrator for books and for the magazines. In addition
to that, I have an income from my father's estate of 800 pounds a year.
At my mother's death I shall have as much more. My father was Edward
Morgan, of whom you may perhaps have heard. He was a well-known civil
engineer, and railway constructor, and distinguished himself in India,
in the construction of the great sea-wall at Calcutta. My mother is
still living, and I know she would be most happy to welcome Muriel as a
daughter, for I have no brothers or sisters, and she is very lonely."

At the mention of my profession and my income I noticed that Major
Temple's frown relaxed somewhat, but when I mentioned my father's name
and the fact of his having spent a part of his life in India, he fairly
beamed.

"Are you really the son of Edward Morgan?" he cried, rising. "Why, my
boy, I knew him well. I was in the Indian service for fifteen years, and
who did not know him, who has spent much time in that benighted country?
Many's the time I've dined with him at our club in Calcutta. He was a
fine man, and, if I remember rightly, he refused a knighthood for his
services." He came up to me and took my hand. "It's all very sudden, I
must say, but I should be very glad to see Muriel happily married, and,
if she believes you to be the right man, I shall interpose no
objections. But I should advise that you both wait a reasonable time,
until you are certain that you have not made any mistake. As for me, I
am an old man, and I have traveled all over the world, but the only
real happiness I have