"I don't. That's just it. On the contrary, I mean to keep my word and
marry her."

"IN ORDER to keep your word?" I suggested.

He nodded. "Precisely. It is a point of honour."

"That's a poor ground of marriage," I went on. "Mind, I don't want for a
moment to influence you, as Daphne's cousin. I want to get at the truth
of the situation. I don't even know what Daphne thinks of you. But you
promised me a clean breast. Be a man and bare it."

He bared it instantly. "I thought I was in love with this girl, you
see," he went on, "till I saw Miss Tepping."

"That makes a difference," I admitted.

"And I couldn't bear to break her heart."

"Heaven forbid!" I cried. "It is the one unpardonable sin. Better
anything than that." Then I grew practical. "Father's consent?"

"MY father's? IS it likely? He expects me to marry into some
distinguished English family."

I hummed a moment. "Well, out with it!" I exclaimed, pointing my cigar
at him.

He leaned back in his chair and told me the whole story. A pretty girl;