money from you when you are my wife. Then
again, shall we be able to afford such an allowance?'

'I thought you felt sure of that?'

'I'm not very sure of anything, to tell the truth. I am harassed.

I can't get on with my work.'

'I am very, very sorry.'

'It isn't your fault, Marian, and--Well, then, there's only one thing
to do. Let us wait, at all events, till your father has undergone the
operation. Whichever the result, you say your own position will be the
same.'

'Except, Jasper, that if father is helpless, I must find means of
assuring his support.'

'In other words, if you can't do that as my wife, you must remain Marian
Yule.'

After a silence, Marian regarded him steadily.

'You see only the difficulties in our way,' she said, in a colder voice.
'They are many, I know. Do you think them insurmountable?'

'Upon my word, they almost seem so,' Jasper exclaimed, distractedly.

'They were not so great when we spoke of marriage a few years hence.'

'A few years!' he echoed, in a cheerless voice. 'That is just what I
have decided is impossible. Marian, you shall have the plain truth. I
can trust your faith, but I can't trust my own. I will marry you now,
but--years hence--how can I tell what may happen? I don't trust myself.'

'You say you "will" marry me now; that sounds as if you had made up your
mind to a sacrifice.'

'I didn't mean that. To face difficulties, yes.'

Whilst they spoke, the sky had grown dark with a heavy cloud, and now
spots of rain began to fall. Jasper looked about him in annoyance as he
felt the moisture, but Marian did not seem aware of it.

'But shall you face them willingly?'

'I am not a man to repine and grumble. Put up your umbrella, Marian.'

'What do I care for a drop of rain,' she exclaimed with passionate
sadness, 'when all my life is at stake! How am I to understand you?
Every word you speak seems intended to dishearten me. Do you no longer
love me? Why need you conceal it, if that is the truth? Is that what you
mean by saying you distrust yourself?

If you do so, there must be reason for it in the present. Could I
distrust myself? Can I force myself in any manner to believe that I
shall ever cease to love you?'

Jasper opened his umbrella.

'We must see each other again, Marian. We can't stand and talk in the
rain--confound it! Cursed climate, where you can never be sure of a
clear sky for five minutes!'

'I can't go till you have spoken more plainly,