know," she said, and suddenly she began to sob drearily, hopelessly,
with her head against his knee.

He bent lower over her; he lifted her till he held her in his arms,
pressed close against his heart.

"Yes, hold me!" she whispered, through her tears. "Hold me tight, Trevor!
Don't let me go! I don't feel so--so frightened when you are holding me."

"Tell me what has frightened you," he said.

"I can't," she whispered back. "I'm just--foolish, that's all. And,
Trevor, I can't--I can't--be married as Hilda was to-day. I can't face
it--all the people and the grandeur and the flowers. You won't make me,
Trevor?"

"My darling, no!" he said.

"It frightened me so," she said forlornly. "It seemed like being caught
in a trap. One felt as if the guests and the flowers were meant to hide
it all, but they didn't--they made it worse. I don't think Hilda felt
like that, but then Hilda is so good, she wouldn't. Oh, Trevor dear, I
wish--I wish we could go to Kellerton and live there without being
married at all."

The words came muffled from his shoulder; she was clinging to him almost
convulsively.

"But we can't, Chris," he said, his quiet voice coming through her
agitation with a patience so immense that it seemed to dwarf even her
distress. "At least, dear, you can go and live there if you wish, but I
can't. Perhaps I am not indispensable."

"No, no!" she said quickly, as though the suggestion hurt her. "I want
you."

"Then I am afraid you will have to marry me," he said. "We won't have a
big wedding. It shall be as private as you like. I suppose you will want
your brothers to be there."

"Why can't we run away together and get married all by ourselves?"
suggested Chris. She raised her head and regarded him with sudden
animation. "Wouldn't it be fun?" she said. "You could come for me in the
motor, and we could fly off to some out-of-the-way village and be married
before anyone knew anything about it. There would be no one to gloat over
us and make silly jokes, no horrid show at all. Trevor," her face flashed
into gaiety once more, "I'll go with you to-morrow!"

He smiled at her eagerness. "If I were to agree to that, you would run
away in the night."

"Run away from you!" said Chris. She wound her arm swiftly about his
neck. "As if I should!" she said reproachfully.

He looked at her, baffled in spite of his determination to understand.
"You wouldn't want to do that, then?" he said.

She nestled to him with