at rather than take it that way I must marry _you_."

"She's shrewder than I thought," Peter returned. "It's the last of
vanities to talk about, but I may state in passing that if you'd marry
me you should be the greatest of all possible ladies."

She had a beautiful, comical gape. "Lord o' mercy, my dear fellow, what
natural capacity have I for that?"

"You're artist enough for anything. I shall be a great diplomatist: my
resolution's firmly taken, I'm infinitely cleverer than you have the
least idea of, and you shall be," he went on, "a great diplomatist's
wife."

"And the demon, the devil, the devourer and destroyer, that you are so
fond of talking about: what, in such a position, do you do with that
element of my nature? _Ou le fourrez-vous_?" she cried as with a real
anxiety.

"I'll look after it, I'll keep it under. Rather perhaps I should say
I'll bribe it and amuse it; I'll gorge it with earthly grandeurs."

"That's better," said Miriam; "for a demon that's kept under is a shabby
little demon. Don't let's be shabby." Then she added: "Do you really go
away the beginning of next week?"

"Monday night if possible."

"Ah that's but to Paris. Before you go to your new post they must give
you an interval here."

"I shan't take it--I'm so tremendously keen for my duties. I shall
insist on going sooner. Oh," he went on, "I shall be concentrated now."

"I'll come and act there." She met it all--she was amused and amusing.
"I've already forgotten what it was I wanted to discuss with you," she
said--"it was some trumpery stuff. What I want to say now is only one
thing: that it's not in the least true that because my life pitches me
in every direction and mixes me up with all sorts of people--or rather
with one sort mainly, poor dears!--I haven't a decent character, I
haven't common honesty. Your sympathy, your generosity, your patience,
your precious suggestions, our dear sweet days last summer in Paris, I
shall never forget. You're the best--you're different from all the
others. Think of me as you please and make profane jokes about my mating
with a disguised 'Arty'--I shall think of _you_ only in one way. I've a
great respect for you. With all my heart I hope you'll be a great
diplomatist. God bless you, dear clever man."

She got up as she spoke and in so doing glanced at the clock--a movement
that somehow only added to the noble gravity of her discourse: she was
considering his time so much more than her o