x into the
candle-light. "You have put this affair entirely in my hands, and Lily
approves of what I have written. I am sick of the thing, and I don't
want any more talk about it."

"I _must_ see it," said Mrs. Elmore, with finality, and possessed
herself of the note. She ran it through, and then flung it on the table
and dropped into a chair, while the tears started to her eyes. "What a
cold, cutting, merciless letter!" she cried.

"I hope he will think so," said Elmore, gathering it up from the table,
and sealing it securely in its envelope.

"You're not going to _send_ it!" exclaimed his wife.

"Yes, I am."

"I didn't suppose you could be so heartless."

"Very well, then, I _won't_ send it," said Elmore. "I put the affair in
_your_ hands. What are you going to do about it?"

"Nonsense!"

"On the contrary, I'm perfectly serious. I don't see why you shouldn't
manage the business. The gentleman is an acquaintance of yours. _I_
don't know him." Elmore rose and put his hands in his pockets. "What do
you intend to do? Do you like this clandestine sort of thing to go on? I
dare say the fellow only wishes to amuse himself by a flirtation with a
pretty American. But the question is whether you wish him to do so. I'm
willing to lay his conduct to a misunderstanding of our customs, and to
suppose that he thinks this is the way Americans do. I take the matter
at its best: he speaks to Lily on the train without an introduction; he
joins you in your walk without invitation; he writes to her without
leave, and proposes to get up a correspondence. It is all perfectly
right and proper, and will appear so to Lily's friends when they hear of
it. But I'm curious to know how you're going to manage the sequel. Do
you wish the affair to go on, and how long do you wish it to go on?"

"You know very well that I don't wish it to go on."

"Then you wish it broken off?"

"Of course I do."

"How?"

"I think there is such a thing as acting kindly and considerately. I
don't see anything in Captain Ehrhardt's conduct that calls for _savage_
treatment," said Mrs. Elmore.

"You would like to have him stopped, but stopped gradually. Well, I
don't wish to be savage, either, and I will act upon any suggestion of
yours. I want Lily's people to feel that we managed not only wisely but
humanely in checking a man who was resolved to force his acquaintance
upon her."

Mrs. Elmore thought a long while. Then she said: "Why, of course, Owen,