o her when he had seized her hand with so much
ardor; but it turned out that he was merely offering _Roche Craie_ as a
home to her mother and herself in the name of the Marquis and Marquise
d'Ochte. She was greatly relieved that he was not going to be
sentimental and answered him gratefully:

"You are very kind, Philippe, but mother and I have our home in
Kentucky, and while we are enjoying our stay in France, every moment of
it, we have every intention of returning to our own country in the
course of time. I cannot answer for mother, but I am almost sure she
will take the same stand I do."

"But should she not, would you abide by her decision, like a dutiful
daughter?" exclaimed Philippe eagerly. "My own mother has been very
happy in her adopted country and you are strangely like her in some
ways."

"Yes, but Cousin Sally had every reason for remaining in France. She had
her Jean----"

"Ah," interrupted Philippe, "would not you have your Philippe? Could I
not be as much to you as my father has been to my mother?"

At last Molly understood. Her cousin was proposing to her. Molly was by
nature so kind that her first feeling was one of pity for the young man
as she hated to hurt his feelings; but she was sure that he did not love
her in the least and that her refusal of him would astonish him but not
give him a single heartache.

"Philippe," she answered, looking him straight in the eye without sign
of coquetry or softness, "you know very well you could never be to me
what your father is to your mother; and one of the biggest reasons is
that I am not to you what your mother is to your father and never could
be. You are not in love with me nor am I in love with you. I have liked
you a whole lot and I believe you like me, but there must be more than
mere liking to make it right to marry. I don't see how you could have
lived always in the house with your mother and father, who are as much
sweethearts now as when they first married, and not understand something
about real love."

Philippe's feelings ran the gamut from astonishment and embarrassment to
humility. He was not by nature a conceited fellow, but so many mothers
and fathers of so many demoiselles had approached him with a view to an
alliance for those daughters, that it had never really entered his head
that, when the time came for him to make a decision in choice of a wife,
he would be refused. He did like Molly very much, liked and admired her,
found her a