hed the subject
of an early marriage to Jane.

"What do you mean by early?" she asked.

"Within the next few days. I must return to England at once--I want
you to return with me, dear."

"I can't get ready so soon as that," replied Jane. "It will take a
whole month, at least."

She was glad, for she hoped that whatever called him to England might
still further delay the wedding. She had made a bad bargain, but she
intended carrying her part loyally to the bitter end--if she could
manage to secure a temporary reprieve, though, she felt that she was
warranted in doing so. His reply disconcerted her.

"Very well, Jane," he said. "I am disappointed, but I shall let my
trip to England wait a month; then we can go back together."

But when the month was drawing to a close she found still another
excuse upon which to hang a postponement, until at last, discouraged
and doubting, Clayton was forced to go back to England alone.

The several letters that passed between them brought Clayton no nearer
to a consummation of his hopes than he had been before, and so it was
that he wrote directly to Professor Porter, and enlisted his services.
The old man had always favored the match. He liked Clayton, and, being
of an old southern family, he put rather an exaggerated value on the
advantages of a title, which meant little or nothing to his daughter.

Clayton urged that the professor accept his invitation to be his guest
in London, an invitation which included the professor's entire little
family--Mr. Philander, Esmeralda, and all. The Englishman argued that
once Jane was there, and home ties had been broken, she would not so
dread the step which she had so long hesitated to take.

So the evening that he received Clayton's letter Professor Porter
announced that they would leave for London the following week.

But once in London Jane Porter was no more tractable than she had been
in Baltimore. She found one excuse after another, and when, finally,
Lord Tennington invited the party to cruise around Africa in his yacht,
she expressed the greatest delight in the idea, but absolutely refused
to be married until they had returned to London. As the cruise was to
consume a year at least, for they were to stop for indefinite periods
at various points of interest, Clayton mentally anathematized
Tennington for ever suggesting such a ridiculous trip.

It was Lord Tennington's plan to cruise through the Mediterranean, and
the Re