lly--only that Mr. Trojan obviously cared a good deal--and it would
be so nice if----"

"How dare she?" Mary cried again. "And you think it too, mother--that
I would go on my knees to him to take us out of our trouble--that I
would sweep his floors if he would help the family! Oh! It's hateful!
Hateful!"

She flung herself into a chair by the window and burst into tears.
Mrs. Bethel stared at her in amazement. "Well, upon my word, my dear,
one never knows how to take you! Why, it wasn't as if she'd said
anything, only that it would be rather nice." She paused in utter
bewilderment and seemed herself a little inclined to cry.

At this moment the door opened--Mary sprang up. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Mr. Henry Trojan, miss, would like to come up if it wouldn't----"

"No. Tell him, Jane, that----"

But he had followed the servant and appeared in the doorway smiling.

"I knew you wouldn't mind my coming unconventionally like this," he
said; "it's a terrible hour in the morning--but I felt sure that I
would catch you."

He had seen at once that there was something wrong, and he stopped
confusedly in the doorway.

But Mrs. Bethel came forward, smiling nervously.

"Oh, please, Mr. Trojan, do come in. We always love to see you--you
know we do--you're one of our real friends--one of our best--and it's
only too good of you to spare time to come round and see us. But I am
busy--it's quite true--one is, you know, in the morning; but I don't
think that Mary has anything very important immediately. I think she
might stop and talk to you," and in a confusion of tittered apologies
she vanished away.

But he stood in the doorway, waiting for Mary to speak. She sat with
her head turned to the window and struggled to regain her self-command;
they had been talked about in the town. She could imagine how it had
gone. "Oh! the Bethel girl! Yes, after the Trojan money and doing it
cleverly too; she'll hook him all right--he's just the kind of man."
Oh! the hatefulness of it!

"What's up?" He came forward a little, twisting his hat in his hands.

"Nothing!" She turned round and tried to smile. Indeed she almost
laughed, for he looked so ridiculous standing there--like a great
schoolboy before the headmaster, his hat turning in his hands; or
rather, like a collie plunging out of the water and ready to shake
himself on all and sundry. As she looked at him she knew that she
loved him and that she could never mar