never approved of the whole thing, and that if I had
consulted her she would never have given her consent to your being here,
and that I was dictatorial--I!"

Her lodger coughed and ejaculated, "You, indeed!"

"And when I said that their ingratitude actually made me wonder why I
worked so hard for them, she said--oh, dear! It is all dreadful! I don't
know what to do!"

"I do!" returned her lodger promptly. "Go away and leave 'em! They
aren't fit to trouble you any more. Besides, they're really not so
bad, after all, you know. There has to be just about so much laziness
and--and that sort of thing, don't you see. Look at me, for instance!
Think of how much misdirected energy I balance! And it gives other
people something to do.... Go away and leave it all for a while!" he
repeated smilingly.

"Go away! But where? Why should I? What do you mean?" she stammered,
confused at something in his eyes, which never left her face.

"To England--you said you'd like to see it. With me--for I certainly
couldn't stay here alone. Why do you suppose I stay, dear lady? I used
to wonder myself. No, sit still, don't get up! I am about to make you an
offer of marriage; indeed, I am serious, Miss Gould!

"I don't see that it's ridiculous at all. I see every practical reason
in favor of it. In the first place, if they are gossiping--oh, yes,
Thompson told me, and I wonder that they hadn't before: these villages
are dreadful places--I couldn't very well stay, you see; and then where
should I put all my things? In the second place, I have so much stuff,
and there's no house fit for it but--but ours; and if we were married I
could have just twice as much room for it--and I'm getting far too much
for my side. In the third place, I find that I can't look forward with
any pleasure to travelling about alone, because, in the fourth place,
I've grown so tremendously fond of you, dear Miss Gould! I think you
don't dislike me?"

She plucked the guitar strings nervously with her white, strong fingers.
The rich, vibrating tones of it filled the room and confused her still
more.

"People will say that I--that we--" He caught her hand: it had never
been kissed before. "Would you rather I went away and then there would
be nothing left for them to say?" he asked softly.

She caught her breath.

"I'm too--"

"You are too charming not to have some one who appreciates the fact as
thoroughly as I do," he interrupted gallantly. "I think you do me so