wonder. It was so strange to her, as strange as sweet, to know that he
loved her; such a marvellous thing that she had pledged herself to be
his wife.

'You are my very own--mine to guard and cherish, mine to think and work
for,' he went on, 'and you will have to trust me, sweet one, even if the
beginning of things is not altogether free from trouble.'

'I am not afraid of trouble.'

'Bravely spoken! First and foremost, then, you will have to announce
your engagement to Lady Maulevrier. She will take it ill, no doubt; will
do her utmost to persuade you to give me up. Have you courage and
resolution, do you think, to stand against her arguments? Can you hold
to your purpose bravely, and cry, no surrender?'

'There shall be no surrender,' answered Mary, 'I promise you that. No
doubt grandmother will be very angry. But she has never cared for me
very much. It will not hurt her for me to make a bad match, as it would
have done in Lesbia's case. She has had no day-dreams--no grand ambition
about me!'

'So much the better, my wayside flower! When you have said all that is
sweet and dutiful to her, and have let her know at the same time that
you mean to be my wife, come weal come woe, I will see her, and will
have my say. I will not promise her a grand career for my darling: but I
will pledge myself that nothing of that kind which the world calls
evil--no penury, or shabbiness of surroundings--shall ever touch Mary
Haselden after she is Mary Hammond. I can promise at least so much as
that.'