"Well, you know, Kitty darling, it happened at Brighton last
September. You were in Scotland then. I was with old Lady Shrewsbury,
who is as blind as a bat--and where's the use of having a person to
look after you when they're blind! You see, my horse ran away, and I
think he must have gone ever so many miles, over railroad bridges and
hedges and stone walls. I'm certain he jumped over a small cottage.
Well, you know, when all seemed lost, suddenly there was a strong hand
laid on the reins, and my horse was stopped. I tumbled into some
strange gentleman's arms, and was carried into a house, where I was
resuscitated. I returned home in the gentleman's carriage.

"Now the worst of it is," said Minnie, with a piteous look, "that the
person who stopped the horse called to inquire after me the next day.
Lady Shrewsbury, like an old goose, was awfully civil to him; and so
there I was! His name is Captain Kirby, and I wish there were no
captains in the world. The life he led me! He used to call, and I had
to go out riding with him, and old Lady Shrewsbury utterly neglected
me; and so, you know, Kitty darling, he at last, you know, of course,
proposed. That's what they all do, you know, when they save your life.
Always! It's awful!"

Minnie heaved a sigh, and sat apparently meditating on the enormous
baseness of the man who saved a lady's life and then proposed; and it
was not until Mrs. Willoughby had spoken twice that she was recalled
to herself.

"What did you tell him?" was her sister's question.

"Why, what could I tell him?"