you're right about it. There _is_ no other way. There couldn't be any
kindness in checking him gradually. But I wish," she added sorrowfully,
"that he had not been such a _complete_ goose; and then we could have
done something with him."

"I am obliged to him for the perfection which you regret, my dear. If he
had been less complete, he would have been much harder to manage."

"Well," said Mrs. Elmore, rising, "I shall always say that he meant
well. But send the letter."

Her husband did not wait for a second bidding. He carried it himself to
the general post-office that there might be no mistake and no delay
about it; and a man who believed that he had a feeling and tender heart
experienced a barbarous joy in the infliction of this pitiless snub. I
do not say that it would not have been different if he had trusted at
all in the sincerity of Captain Ehrhardt's passion; but he was glad to
discredit it. A misgiving to the other effect would have complicated the
matter. But now he was perfectly free to disembarrass himself of a
trouble which had so seriously threatened his peace. He was responsible
to Miss Mayhew's family, and Mrs. Elmore herself could not say, then or
afterward, that there was any other way open to him. I will not contend
that his motives were wholly unselfish. No doubt a sense of personal
annoyance, of offended decorum, of wounded respectability, qualified the
zeal for Miss Mayhew's good which prompted him. He was still a young
and inexperienced man, confronted with a strange perplexity: he did the
best he could, and I suppose it was the best that could be done. At any
rate, he had no regrets, and he went cheerfully about the work of
interesting Miss Mayhew in the monuments and memories of the city.

Since the decisive blow had been struck, the ladies seemed to share his
relief. The pursuit of Captain Ehrhardt, while it flattered, might well
have alarmed, and the loss of a not unpleasant excitement was made good
by a sense of perfect security. Whatever repining Miss Mayhew indulged
was secret, or confided solely to Mrs. Elmore. To Elmore himself she
appeared in better spirits than at first, or at least in a more equable
frame of mind. To be sure, he did not notice very particularly. He took
her to the places and told her the things that she ought to be
interested in, and he conceived a better opinion of her mind from the
quick intelligence with which she entered into his own feelings in
regard to th