business himself at that time. He said, taking the chances, and
in the hope of my coming, he would name the very line of steamers I
ought to come by; and if I could but agree to it, he would meet me and
marry me, and take me back with him."

"Somehow, Laura, I seem to gather that you do not consider him quite
your equal."

"No, I suppose, as I am a Melcombe----"

"A Melcombe!" repeated Valentine with bitter scorn. "A Melcombe!" Laura
felt the colour rush over her face with astonishment. She knew rather
than saw that the little glimpse she had had of his own self was gone
again; but before she could decide how to go on, he said, with
impatience and irritation, "I beg your pardon; you were going to
say----"

"That he is in a fairly good position now," she proceeded, quoting her
lover's language; "and he has hopes that the head of the firm, who is a
foreigner, will take him into partnership soon. Besides, as his future
home is in America (and mine, if I marry him), what signifies his
descent?"

"No," murmured Valentine with a sigh. "'The gardener Adam and his wife'
(Tennyson)."

"And," proceeded Laura, "nothing can be more perfectly irreproachable
than his people are--more excellent, honest, and respectable."

"Whew!" cried Valentine with a bitter laugh, "that is a great deal to
say of any family. Well, Laura, if you're sure they won't mind demeaning
themselves by an alliance with us----"

"Nonsense, Valentine; I wish you would not be so odd," interrupted
Laura.

"I have nothing to say against it."

"Thank you, dear Valentine; and nobody else has a right to say anything,
for you are the head of the family. It was very odd that you should have
pitched upon that particular line to quote."

"Humph! And as I have something of my own, more than three thousand
pounds in fact----"

"And Melcombe," exclaimed Laura.

"Ah, yes, I forgot. But I was going to say that you, being the only
other Melcombe, you know, and you and I liking one another, I wish to
act a brotherly part by you; and therefore, when you have bought
yourself a handsome trousseau and a piano, and everything a lady ought
to have, and your passage is paid for, I wish to make up whatever is
left of your five hundred pounds to a thousand, that you may not go
almost portionless to your husband."

"I am sure, dear Valentine, he does not expect anything of the sort,"
exclaimed Laura faintly, but with such a glow of pleasure in her face as
cheated Valen