omen hate to be told they are sensible by any one but their
mothers-in-law. But how could an assessor know that? He continued to
regard her earnestly. 'I feel sure, too, that you're so much older
than you look.'

To this day Marion says she's not sure whether this was intended as a
compliment or a deadly insult.

'Do you think,' he went on, 'that a man should ask a woman to marry him
only when she has reached maturity?'

Marion, moving well into the glow of the pink-shaded lamp, said it
depended on the stage of maturity. Nowadays, when women so often look
younger than they really are, it is difficult to tell.

He seemed relieved. 'That's exactly what I feel about it. But
supposing my mother shouldn't approve of my choice? I hate family
squabbles above everything. I have always maintained that I would only
marry the woman that my mother really liked.'

'Isn't that rather a handicap for your future wife?' asked Marion
gently. 'But why not ask your mother's opinion of her?'

'That's just what I want to speak to you about,' he put in eagerly. 'I
. . . I want to ask you if I can introduce you to my mother?'

The knitting fell from Marion's nerveless fingers. She can show you
the uneven row on the jumper where she dropped fifteen stitches at that
moment.

[Illustration: Marion dropped fifteen stitches.]

'I shall be most happy to meet your mother,' she murmured.

'This is really good of you,' he said eagerly. 'You see, you're the
very one she would take to in an instant. I knew it directly I met
you. I don't know any one else she would listen to so willingly, if
you will consent to intervene.'

'Intervene!' echoed Marion. Somehow she did not like the word. Not at
that moment, I mean.

'Yes, intervene,' he repeated. There was no mistaking it--what could
be clearer. Latin, _inter_, between; _venio_, I come. Marion may have
translated it differently, but she had served in the capacity of buffer
too often to misinterpret its meaning.

'I am to understand that you wish for my aid in a love affair?' she
said.

'That's just about it. You see, I always hoped I should fall in love
with a quiet, homely, staid sort of girl, but dash it all, you can't
govern these things, can you?'

'Sometimes one has to,' said Marion, picking up dropped stitches.

'So I've completely lost my heart to a girl who--well, she's an
actress. She's second from the left in the front row chorus of
"Whizz-Bang" at the Hil