.

"But you know how much I care for you--that I love you, Dexie?" he said,
taking her hand. "You have never told me you cared for me in so many words,
Dexie, but I am sure you do. They are all pleased with the idea at home,
and father has promised to take me into partnership the first of the year.
Until then I shall not know just how much of an income I shall have, but I
know it will be enough for us to live on quite comfortably; and we could
live in the part of the house that you occupy now. But you have not said
the word yet that will bind us. Will you be my wife, Dexie?"

"Lancy, I will be honest and plain-spoken; then there will be no
misunderstanding. Of course, I care a good deal for you, but I really do
not believe I love you as a woman should love the man she marries; and you
may meet the one who will give you that love some day, then you will be
sorry you put that question to me. Honestly, Lancy, although we have cared
very much for each other's society, I don't believe we would be half as
happy together as man and wife as we are now. I can't imagine myself living
with you day after day, and performing the little daily services for you
that come so naturally from your mother, and which goes to make your
father's life so comfortable and happy."

"Why need you pattern your future life after that of my mother; your mother
does not--" Lancy paused in embarrassment.

"Oh! you need not mind saying it to me; it is only between ourselves. You
want to say that my mother does not put herself out to do much for the
happiness of the rest of us."

"No, I was not intending to go so far as that, Dexie."

"Well, I hope when I get married that I shall care enough for my husband to
feel like exerting myself a little towards making the house comfortable. I
want a happier married life than I see at home. I suppose we all have our
ideals, but I would sooner take your mother for an example of what a wife
should be, rather than mine."

"I believe you and I would live very happily together, Dexie; if you cared
for me as much as I care for you, there would be no trouble," and he
pressed the hand he held in his.

"Oh! I daresay we might get along quite _passably_, Lancy; but that doesn't
seem to me enough, and I do not want to be bound by a promise which, in the
future, we might both wish was never made."

"Dexie, I never thought you would put me off like this," said Lancy, in a
wounded tone "You have known all this time how m