king of You. May I ask you
something?"

Amelius smiled. The smile was not reflected as usual in Sally's face.
"It's nothing particular," she explained in an odd hurried way; "the
church put it into my head. You--" She hesitated, and tried it under
another form. "Will you be married yourself, Amelius, one of these
days?"

He did his best to evade the question. "I am not rich, Sally, like the
old gentleman we have just seen."

Her eyes turned away from him; she sighed softly to herself. "You will
be married some day," she said. "Will you do one kind thing more for me,
Amelius, when I die? You remember my reading in the newspaper of the new
invention for burning the dead--and my asking you about it. You said
you thought it was better than burying, and you had a good mind to leave
directions to be burnt instead of buried, when your time came. When _my_
time has come, will you leave other directions about yourself, if I ask
you?"

"My dear, you are talking in a very strange way! If you will have it
that I am to be married some day, what has that to do with your death?"

"It doesn't matter, Amelius. When I have nothing left to live for, I
suppose it's as likely as not I may die. Will you tell them to bury me
in some quiet place, away from London, where there are very few graves?
And when you leave your directions, don't say you are to be burnt.
Say--when you have lived a long, long life, and enjoyed all the
happiness you have deserved so well--say you are to be buried, and
your grave is to be near mine. I should like to think of the same trees
shading us, and the same flowers growing over us. No! don't tell me I'm
talking strangely again--I can't bear it; I want you to humour me and
be kind to me about this. Do you mind going home? I'm feeling a little
tired--and I know I'm poor company for you today."

The talk flagged at dinner-time, though Toff did his best to keep it
going.

In the evening, the excellent Frenchman made an effort to cheer the two
dull young people. He came in confidentially with his fiddle, and
said he had a favour to ask. "I possess some knowledge, sir, of the
delightful art of dancing. Might I teach young Miss to dance? You see,
if I may venture to say so, the other lessons--oh, most useful, most
important, the other lessons! but they are just a little serious.
Something to relieve her mind, sir--if you will forgive me for
mentioning it. I plead for innocent gaiety--let us dance!"

He played a