mp."

"She cannot know me very well, I admit."

"I don't see that you know her very well, either, for that matter."

"I know her well enough," said Anderson. "I have no doubt as far as I
am concerned. My only doubt is for her, not only whether she can care
sufficiently for me, but whether, if she should care, it would be the
best thing for her. I am much older than she. I can support her in
comfort, but not in luxury, probably never in luxury; and you know my
position, that I have been forced to abandon a profession which would
give my wife a better social standing. You know all that; there is no
need of my dwelling upon it."

Anderson said that with an indescribable pride, and yet with a
perfect acquiescence in the situation. He looked at Carroll, who
remained quite pale, looking at him with an inscrutable expression of
astonishment. Finally he smiled a little.

"As they say in the comic column, this is so sudden, Mr. Anderson,"
he said.

"I can well imagine so," Anderson replied, smiling in his turn. "It
is rather sudden to me. Nothing was further from my intention than to
say this to-night."

Carroll looked at him soberly. "Mr. Anderson, it all depends upon the
child," he said. "If Charlotte likes you, that is all there is to be
said about it. You are a good man and you can take care of her. As
far as the other goes, I have no right to say anything. Frankly, I
should prefer that you had succeeded in your profession than in your
present business, on her account."

"So should I," said Anderson, gloomily.

"But it is all for her to decide. Come and call, and let matters take
their course. But--I shall say nothing to her about this. A girl like
Charlotte is a sensitive thing. Call and see. As far as I am
concerned--" Carroll paused a second. Then he rose and held out his
hand. "I have no reason whatever to object to you as a husband for my
daughter, and my son-in-law," he said.

"Thank you," said Anderson.

Carroll had gone out of the door, and Anderson was just about to
close it after him, when he turned back. "By-the-way, Mr. Anderson,"
he said, and Anderson understood that he was about to say what had
been on his mind before and he had refrained from expressing. "I want
to inquire if you have any acquaintance with the large grocery house
of Kidder & Ladd, in the City?" he asked.

"A slight business acquaintance," replied Anderson, wonderingly.

"I saw," said Carroll, in an odd, breathless sort of voic