he excitement of seeing strange places? Isn't it excitement enough, and
isn't it strange enough, to a newly-married woman to see such a total
novelty as a husband? What is the most interesting object on the face
of creation to a man in Arnold's position? The Alps? Certainly not! The
most interesting object is the wife. And the proper time for a bridal
tour is the time--say ten or a dozen years later--when you are beginning
(not to get tired of each other, that's out of the question) but to
get a little too well used to each other. Then take your tour to
Switzerland--and you give the Alps a chance. A succession of honey-moon
trips, in the autumn of married life--there is my proposal for an
improvement on the present state of things! Come into the garden,
Arnold; and let us calculate how long it will be before we get weary of
each other, and want the beauties of nature to keep us company."

Arnold looked appealingly to Sir Patrick. Not a word had passed between
them, as yet, on the serious subject of Anne Silvester's letter. Sir
Patrick undertook the responsibility of making the necessary excuses to
Blanche.

"Forgive me," he said, "if I ask leave to interfere with your monopoly
of Arnold for a little while. I have something to say to him about
his property in Scotland. Will you leave him with me, if I promise to
release him as soon as possible?"

Blanche smiled graciously. "You shall have him as long as you like,
uncle. There's your hat," she added, tossing it to her husband, gayly.
"I brought it in for you when I got my own. You will find me on the
lawn."

She nodded, and went out.

"Let me hear the worst at once, Sir Patrick," Arnold began. "Is it
serious? Do you think I am to blame?"

"I will answer your last question first," said Sir Patrick. "Do I think
you are to blame? Yes--in this way. You committed an act of unpardonable
rashness when you consented to go, as Geoffrey Delamayn's messenger,
to Miss Silvester at the inn. Having once placed yourself in that false
position, you could hardly have acted, afterward, otherwise than you
did. You could not be expected to know the Scotch law. And, as an
honorable man, you were bound to keep a secret confided to you, in which
the reputation of a woman was concerned. Your first and last error
in this matter, was the fatal error of involving yourself in
responsibilities which belonged exclusively to another man."

"The man had saved my life." pleaded Arnold--"and I bel