word."

Hector pressed his lips together and gave a strained attempt at a smile.

"I am not a boy, Peggy. I know what I want, but you--you are so young,
how can you be sure of yourself yet? I am not going to take `No' for an
answer. I will wait--ask for an extension of leave--come home for you
later on. You shall have time, plenty of time, but I will not let you
decide at once. You don't know your own mind!"

"Oh, Hector!" Even at that critical moment a gleam of fun twinkled in
Peggy's eyes. "Oh, Hector, how can you? No one has ever accused me
before of not knowing my own mind. I know it only too well, and I will
not let you wait on, to gain nothing but a second disappointment. I
should not change, and listen, Hector--it would be a bad thing if I did!
I like you very much--far, far better than I ever believed I could do
when we first met, for you seemed so different then, so haughty and
self-satisfied, that if you had not been Rob's brother I should have
disliked you outright. I see now that I judged you too quickly, but
there is still so much difference between us that we should never be
happy together. You are a man of the world, and like to live in the
world, and conform to its ways, and at heart I am nothing but a
Bohemian. I have no respect for the rules and regulations of Society,
and the only feeling they arouse in me is a desperate desire to break
through them and shock Mrs Grundy. I am erratic, and careless, and
forgetful. I am ashamed of it, and honestly mean to improve, but, oh,
poor Hector, how you would suffer if you had to put up with me during
the process! You ought to marry a clever woman who would keep your
house as you would like it kept, and help you on by her gracious ways,
not a madcap girl who has not learned to manage herself, much less other
people. Dear Hector, I thank you with all my heart for thinking so
kindly of me and paying me such an honour, but, indeed, indeed, it
cannot be."

She laid her hand on his as she spoke with a pretty, winsome gesture,
and Hector just touched it with his own, and then let it drop. His
expression had altered completely while she was speaking, and he had
lost his air of assurance. Those few words which had dropped out so
unconsciously had convinced him of the hopelessness of his cause more
entirely than any argument. "If you had not been Rob's brother." She
would have disliked him if he had not been Rob's brother. She could not
dislike