t of her? Certainly not. You know what I told you?'

'Yes, but I thought you might have seen how foolish you were.'

'I shall never give up hope,' he replied; 'that is, until hope is
impossible. Whatever made you think of such a thing?'

'But do you not see the madness of your plan?'

'No, there is nothing mad in it. By the way, Luscombe, I am awfully
hungry. Let us go in here and get some dinner. Don't think, old man,
that I can't see your point of view,' he said when we had taken our seats
in the dining-room of the restaurant, 'I can. From your standpoint, for
a man in my position, without name, without home, without friends,
without money, to aspire to the hand of Lorna Bolivick, is to say that he
is fit for a lunatic asylum. But I can't see things as you do. God
Almighty didn't put this love in my heart for nothing, a love which has
been growing every day since I saw her. Why, man, although I have said
nothing to you, she is everything to me, everything! That is, from the
personal standpoint. If I did not believe in God, I should despair, but,
believing in Him, despair is impossible.'

'God does not give us everything we want,' I replied; 'it would not be
good for us if He did. Possibly He has other plans for her.'

'That may be so,' he replied calmly, 'but I am going to act as though He
meant her for me.'

I looked across the dining-hall as he spoke, and saw, sitting not far
away from us, a party which instantly attracted my attention.

'I should not, if I were you,' I said.

'Why?'

'Look!' I replied, nodding towards the table I had noticed.

He gave a start, for sitting at the table were Sir Thomas and Lady
Bolivick and their daughter Lorna. Sitting beside the latter was
Springfield.

'Does not that suggest the answer?'

His face never moved a muscle, and he looked at them as though he were
but little interested.

'If ever a man had the appearance of a successful lover,' I went on,
'Springfield has. There, do you see how he is looking at her? Do you
see how his every action suggests proprietorship? Then watch her face,
see how she smiles at him. It would seem, too, as though her father and
mother are very pleased.'

He continued to look at them for several seconds, then he said quite
casually, 'They have no idea we are here.'

'No, evidently not. But I think I will go and speak to them.'

'Don't, Luscombe,' and he spoke quickly; 'it will be better not. I don't
want that ma