command the sacrifice of your life to another's judgment. There
is only one thing that stands in your way, and that is your claim
on a large inheritance. I understand you are quite willing to let
that go. You are not even 'running away' from it--that is not the
word--you are ready to _jettison_ it."

She looked puzzled, and murmured; "I don't exactly understand what
that means."

"To jettison," I said, in that learned and dispassionate manner
which is sometimes useful in relieving an emotional situation,
"is a seafaring phrase. It means throwing overboard a part or the
whole of a cargo in order to save the ship. As far as I can see
that is the question which is up to you and your best friend at
the present moment. Are you prepared to jettison the claim on a
big fortune for the sake of making your voyage of life together?"

They looked at each other and a kind of radiance spread over their
faces. "Surely," they answered with one voice. "But how can the
marriage be arranged," asked Alice, "without a row in the family?"

"Very easily," I answered. "Both of you are over age, though you
don't look it. Our good lawyer friend Harrison will help you to
get the license. Fix your day for the wedding, neither secret nor
notorious; invite anybody you like, and come to me on the day you
have chosen. The arrangements will be made. You shall be married,
all right."

So they came, and I married them, and it was a very good job.