but the possibility must be
faced--he might not be spared to you for many years! A delicate fellow
like that--"

"Strong men die unexpectedly, father, as well as weakly ones. Everyone
has to run that risk. I would rather be his wife even for two or three
years than marry any other man. And I will nurse him so well--take such
good care--"

"Ah, I see your mind is made up! Well, dear, some people would think I
was doing a foolish thing in consenting to this engagement, but I _do_
consent. I do more than that, I rejoice with all my heart in your
happiness, and in my own happiness, for it will be a joy to every one of
us. Rayner will be a son-in-law worth having, and a husband of whom any
woman might be proud. Ah, well! this is something like an engagement!
That other unhappy affair was nothing but trouble from first to last.
You know your mind, my dear, and are not likely to change."

"Never!" said Hilary. And her eyes flashed with a bright, determined
look, at which her father smiled.

"That's good hearing! Well, dear, we will have another talk later on,
but now we had better go and join the others. They are curious to know
what we are whispering about over here."

Miss Carr had come out of the hotel after her afternoon nap, and was
seated on the verandah beside the two younger girls. Mr Rayner had
joined them, and was listening with mischievous enjoyment to their
speculations about Hilary's conference with her father.

"How interested they seem! Now he is kissing her. Why don't they come
over here and tell us all about it?" cried Norah; and, as if anxious to
gratify her curiosity, Mr Bertrand came towards the verandah at that
very moment, and presenting Hilary to them with a flourishing hand,
cried roguishly--

"Allow me to introduce to you the future Mrs Herbert Rayner!"

The excitement, joy, and astonishment of the next few minutes can be
better imagined than described. Miss Carr shed tears into her teacup;
the girls repeated incoherently that they had always expected it, and
that they had never expected it; and Mr Bertrand was as mischievous in
his teasing ways as Raymond himself could have been under the
circumstances; but the lovers were too happy to be disturbed by his
sallies. It was both beautiful and touching to see Mr Rayner's quiet
radiance, and to watch how his eyes lightened whenever they lit on
Hilary's face, while to see that self-possessed young lady looking shy
and embarrassed