ons.

"Ah, I knew he wouldn't forget his old father. Don't you remember,
Frances, I said to you, 'I'll be bound the boy will bring some stamps
with him.' They'll be valuable in a year or two. That's what I always
say with regard to postage stamps; you can't waste your money. Now
jewellery, for instance, gets old-fashioned, and china breaks; but you
run no risk with stamps. When I buy stamps, I really feel that I'm as
good as investing my money in consols."

"Well, how's Mary this morning?"

"I've been having a long talk with her."

"Settled the day yet?" asked the Colonel, with a knowing little laugh.

"No!"

"Upon my word, Frances, I think we shall have to settle it for them.
Things weren't like this when we were young. Why, Jamie, your mother and
I got married six weeks after I was introduced to her at a croquet
party."

"We were married in haste, Richmond," said Mrs. Parsons, laughing.

"Well, we've taken a long time to repent of it, my dear. It's over
thirty years."

"I fancy it's too late now."

The Colonel took her hand and patted it.

"If you get such a good wife as I have, Jamie, I don't think you'll have
reason to complain. Will he, my dear?"

"It's not for me to say, Richmond," replied Mrs. Parsons, smiling
contentedly.

"Do you want me to get married very much, father?"

"Of course I do. I've set my heart upon it. I want to see what the new
generations of Parsons are like before I die."

"Listen, Richmond, Jamie has something to tell us."

Mrs. Parsons had been looking at her son, and was struck at last by the
agony of his expression.

"What is it, Jamie?" she asked.

"I'm afraid you'll be dreadfully disappointed. I'm so sorry--Mary and I
are no longer engaged to be married."

For a minute there was silence in the room. The old Colonel looked
helplessly from wife to son.

"What does he mean, Frances?" he said at last.

Mrs. Parsons did not answer, and he turned to James.

"You're not in earnest, Jamie? You're joking with us?"

James went over to his father, as the weaker of the two, and put his arm
round his shoulders.

"I'm awfully sorry to have to grieve you, father. It's quite true--worse
luck! It was impossible for me to marry Mary."

"D'you mean that you've broken your engagement with her after she's
waited five years for you?" said Mrs. Parsons.

"I couldn't do anything else. I found I no longer loved her. We should
both have been unhappy if we had married."

The Col