ence,
and said, very simply, "Diana, I love you with all my heart and soul
and strength; will you do me the honour to become my wife?"

And there was a little warm glisten in her eyes as she answered, "Yes,
dear; I am ready to take the long trek with you."

A little later she went home with an air of quiet radiance that told
Meryl all she needed to know the moment she set eyes on her, and her
embrace was full of warmest affection.

Only Aunt Emily seemed thoroughly perplexed, and not able to entirely
grasp the happy aspect of affairs when she heard it all for the first
time.

"How extraordinary!..." she exclaimed; and then, with an air full of
mournful reproach, she looked at Diana and added, "I told you
something dreadful would happen, my dear, if you spoke of the wedding
so strangely."

"Yes, aunty, so you did! and it was very clever of you," Diana
replied. "But, of course, you ought to have warned me before I said
it. Now, you see, I've got caught in the net myself. Ah well!..." she
finished comically, "I can bear it."

And Meryl's low laughter, as she hastened to soothe poor Aunt Emily's
wounded feelings, had a happier note than it had known for many a day.

"I don't think I quite understand," continued the perplexed lady. "It
reminds me of a story I once heard about the aunt of a friend of my
father's, that is to say, the aunt of a friend of your grandfather's...."

"Yes, I remember," said the incorrigible; "but she didn't do it in the
end, you know. And, anyhow, the great question just now is, having
taken over the bridegroom, ought I to take over the wedding presents
as well?..."

"Of course, they must all be sent back," Aunt Emily replied, with
great gravity. "Dear me, what a pity!... What a pity!... And he is
really quite a nice man, although he is Dutch."

"O, do you really think so?..." Diana asked, and went laughing out of
the room.

XXXII

A CHAPTER OF SURPRISES

In Diana's happy state of mind there was not the slightest doubt her
interview with Carew, when it came off, would be the reverse of
conventional.

He arrived at the Carlton the day after it had been notified to the
papers that the engagement between Miss Pym and William van Hert was
broken off by mutual agreement. The new engagement was looked upon
only as a secret understanding at present, and no announcement was to
be made for some weeks.

Carew saw the news in a paper he got at Kimberley, so that when he
stepped ou