ran in other
respects as he was--"to the--ceremony?" he finished up. Ceremony did
not have the personal sound that marriage did.

Carroll looked at him, smiling. "It is quite a venture for you, old
fellow, isn't it?" he said, laughingly, and yet his voice sounded
exceedingly kind and touched.

"Not with that child, Arthur," replied the other man, simply.

"Well, Ina is a good girl," assented Carroll. "Both of them are good
girls. She will make you a good wife."

"Nobody knows how sure I am of it, and nobody knows how I have looked
forward to this for years," said the other, fervently.

"I could not wish anything better for my girl," said Carroll, gently
and soberly.

"What about the matter of the--ceremony?" asked Arms, returning to
the first subject.

"I think they have decided that they would prefer the wedding in the
church, and a little reception at the house afterwards. Of course we
are comparatively strangers in Banbridge, but there are people one
can always ask to a function of the sort, and I think Ina--"

"Arthur, there is something I would like to propose."

"What, old fellow?"

Major Arms hesitated. Carroll waited, smoking as he sauntered along.
The other man held his cigar, which had gone out, in his mouth;
evidently he was nervous about his proposition. Finally he blurted it
out with the sharpness of a pistol-shot. "Arthur, I want to defray
the expenses of the wedding," he said.

Carroll removed his cigar. "See you damned first," said he, coolly,
but with emphasis, and then replaced it.

Major Arms turned furiously towards him, but he restrained himself.
"Why?" he said, with forced calm.

"Because if I cannot pay my daughter's bridal expenses she never
marries you nor any other man," said Carroll.

Then the Major blazed out. He stopped short and moved before Carroll
on the sidewalk. "If," said he--"if--you think I marry your daughter
if her father goes in debt for the wedding expenses, you are
mistaken."

Carroll said nothing. He stood as if stunned. The other went on with
a burst of furious truth: "See here, Arthur Carroll," said he, "I
like you, and you know how I feel about your girl. She is the one
thing I have wanted for my happiness all my life, and I know I can
take care of her and make her happy; and I like you in spite of--in
spite of your outs. I'm ashamed of myself for liking you, but I do;
but you needn't think I don't see you, that I don't know you, because
I do. I knew whe