a nice, quiet place and all that, Mrs. Gusty. I thought I'd consult
you about it, Mrs. Gusty, if you don't mind."

She calmly fixed one eye upon him and one upon the clock while he went
into particulars concerning Mr. Hinton. When he paused for breath, she
folded her arms and said:

"Mr. Opp, if you want to say what you come to say, you haven't got but
four minutes to do it in."

"Oh, yes," said Mr. Opp, gratefully, but helplessly; "I was just coming
to that point. It's a matter--that--er--well you might say it is in a
way pertaining--to--"

"Guin-never!" snapped Mrs. Gusty, unable longer to stand his hesitation.
"I'd have been a deaf-mute and a fool to boot not to have known it long
ago. Not that I've been consulted in the matter." She lifted a stiffened
chin, and turned her gaze upward.

"You have," declared Mr. Opp, earnestly; "that is, you will be.
Everything is pending on you. There has been no steps whatever taken by
Miss Guin-never or I--rather I might say by her. I can't say but what I
have made some slight preliminary arrangements." He paused, then went on
anxiously: "I trust there ain't any personal objections to the case."

Mrs. Gusty made folds in her black-silk skirt and creased them down with
her thumb-nail. "No," she said shortly; "far as I can see, Guin-never
would be doing mighty well to get you. You'd be a long sight safer than
a good-looking young fellow. Of course a man being so much older than a
girl is apt to leave her a widow. But, for my part, I believe in second
marriages."

Mr. Opp felt as if he had received a hot and cold douche at the same
time; but the result was a glow.

"Then you don't oppose it, Mrs. Gusty," he cried eagerly. "You'll write
her you are willing?"

"Not yet," said Mrs. Gusty; "there's a condition."

"There ain't any condition in the world I won't meet to get her," he
exclaimed recklessly, his fervor bursting its bounds. "You don't know
how I feel about that young lady. Why, I'd live on bread and water all
the rest of my life if it would make her happy. There hasn't been a hour
since I met her that she hasn't held my soul--as you might say--in the
pa'm of her hand."

"People don't often get it so bad at our age," remarked Mrs. Gusty,
sarcastically, and Mr. Opp winced.

"The condition," went on Mrs. Gusty, "that I spoke about, was your
sister. Of course I never would consent to Guin-never living under the
same roof with a crazy person."

The hope which was car