ht be congratulated, she continued earnestly: 'Yes, indeed; and we
have all been as blind and stupid as possible! And yet, when one comes
to think of it, you and Audrey are cut out for each other.'

'I was afraid you might say something about the disparity in our
ages--five-and-twenty and forty; and actually I have some gray hairs
already, Gage.'

'Nonsense!' she returned indignantly. 'I never saw you look younger and
better in your life; and as for disparity, as you call it, isn't it just
the same between Percival and myself? and can any couple be happier? If
you are only as good to Audrey as Percival is to me, she will be the
happiest woman in the world!'

It was a pity Mr. Harcourt could not see his wife as she made this
speech, for she looked so lovely in her matronly dignity that Michael
and Audrey exchanged an admiring glance. But the climax of their success
was felt to be reached when Mr. Harcourt arrived that evening.

'You have done the best day's work that ever you did in your life when
you said "Yes" to Burnett!' was his first speech to Audrey; and then he
had turned very red, and wrung her hand with such violence that it
throbbed with pain.

'I think you ought to give her a kiss, Percy,' suggested his wife a
little mischievously; for it was well known that Mr. Harcourt objected
to any such demonstration, except to his own wife.

'No, thank you,' returned Audrey, stepping back. 'I am quite sure of
Percival's sympathy without putting it to such a painful proof.'

'I shall kiss Audrey on her wedding-day,' replied Mr. Harcourt solemnly;
'that is, if her husband will permit me,' with a bow to Michael.

But this remark drove his sister-in-law to the other end of the room, so
that she lost a certain straightforward and complimentary speech that
gave a great deal of pleasure to Michael, and which he never could be
induced to repeat to her.

No one could doubt Audrey's happiness after the first few days of
strangeness had worn off, and she had grown used to her new position as
Michael's _fiancee_. Michael had been very careful not to scare her at
first--he had no wish to bring back the shyness that had made their
first evening such a misery to them both--and his forbearance was
rewarded when he saw the old frankness and joyousness return, and Audrey
became her own sweet self again.

Michael was an ardent lover, but he was not an exacting one: Audrey
could have had as much freedom as she needed during their