you, of course, but I--I suppose she would like the idea of being
proposed to. They all do. I daresay you two can settle the point in a
jiffy in some quiet nook up at the--But, there! I shall not offer
suggestions to you in an affair of the heart, my son. Will you be up
to see her this evening?"

Eddie drew a long breath. "If--if she has no other engagement."

"Engagement?" gasped the General, with popping eyes. "She hasn't sat
up after eight o'clock in four years, except on Christmas Eve. You
won't be disturbed; so come around."

"Perhaps, to be sure of finding her up, I'd better come to dinner."

"By all means. Stay as late as you like, too. She won't get sleepy to-
night. Not a bit of it." He arose to depart.

"Just a moment, General," said Eddie curtly. "We've got a few
preliminaries to arrange before I commit myself. Here is a paper for
you to sign. Business is business, you know, and this is the first
really business-like thing I've ever done. Be good enough to read this
paper very carefully before signing."

General Gamble put on his glasses and read the brief, but ample
contract which bound him to pay to Edward Peabody Ten Eyck, on the day
that he was married to Martha Gamble, for better or for worse, an
amount equivalent to the value of her weight in pure gold. He
hesitated for one brief, dubious moment, then called for pen, ink, and
paper. When these articles were brought to him, he deliberately drew
up a second contract by which Edward Ten Eyck bound himself to wed