tered upon," said Lord St. John.

"I don't hold with delays--nor interfering between folks that have
promised to be man and wife. The Almighty never intended us to play at
being providence. If it's ordained for Nan to marry Roger Trenby--marry
him she will. And the lass is old enough to know her own mind; maybe
you're wrong in thinking her heart's elsewhere."

Then, catching an expression of dissent on Kitty's face, she added
shrewdly:

"Oh, I ken weel he's nae musician--but it's no' a few notes of the piano
will be binding husband and wife together. 'Tis the wee bairns build the
bridges we can cross in safety."

There was an unwontedly tender gleam in her hard-featured face. Kitty
jumped up and kissed her impulsively.

"Aunt Eliza dear, you've a much softer heart than you pretend, and if Nan
weren't happily married you'd be just as sorry as the rest of us."

"Perhaps Eliza's right," hazarded St. John rather uncertainly. "We may
have been too ready to assume Nan won't be happy with the man she's
chosen."

"I know Nan," persisted Kitty obstinately. "And I know she and Roger
have really nothing in common."

"Then perhaps they'll find something after they're married," retorted
Eliza, "and the looking for it will give a spice to life. There's many a
man--ay, and woman, too!--who have fallen deeper in love after they've
taken the plunge than ever they did while they were hovering on the
brink."

"That may be true in some cases," responded St. John. "But you're
advocating a big risk, Eliza."

"And there's mighty few things worth having in this world that aren't
obtained at a risk," averred Mrs. McBain stoutly. "You've always been
for wrapping Nan up in cotton wool, St. John--shielding her from this,
protecting her from that! Sic' havers! She'd be more of a woman if
you'd let her stand on her own feet a bit."

Lord St. John sighed.

"Well, she'll have to stand on her own feet henceforth," he said.

"What about the money?" demanded Eliza. "Are you still going to allow
her the same income?"

"I think not," he answered thoughtfully. "That was to give her freedom
of choice--freedom from matrimony if she wished. Well, she's chosen.
And I believe Nan will be all the better for being dependent on her
husband for--everything. At any rate, just at first."

Kitty looked somewhat dubious, but Mrs. McBain nodded her approval
vigorously.

"That's sound common-sense," she said decidedly. "More than I ex