easy for her. Her better nature had a fearful tussle with her common
sense about five years ago, when Aunt Jessie asked her to go abroad;
and it nearly overcame her frivolity and her vanity last winter when I
met her at the dock and insisted upon having her spend the winter with
me, and our second cousin, Alicia Broome, offered to be responsible
for her wardrobe. But, thanks be," she added, laughing, "the world,
the flesh, and the devil won. So cheer up, Mr. Brockton. It may happen
again."

"Oh, I'm not hopeless by any manner of means. I want her pretty badly,
and I'm used to getting what I want. I told her, out and out, when she
turned me down, back there in May, that if she were a young girl I
wouldn't urge her any more, after what she said about her feelings.
But she wasn't, and I thought she could look at a proposition from a
plain business point of view."

"You told her that? You mentioned to her that she was no longer a
young girl?" Mrs. Dinsmore's laugh rippled delightedly on the air.

"I did. Oh, I'm used to bargaining," he rejoined, proudly. "I always
could make the other fellow see what he'd lose by refusing my offers.
And I got her to take the matter under consideration. I heard
somewhere that she was interested in some philanthropy. Well, money
comes in handy in charity." He grinned broadly at Mrs. Dinsmore.

At that moment her protege was extremely distasteful to the lady. But
she was a philosopher where marriage was concerned, and she
whole-heartedly hoped that her cousin Millicent would not dally too
long with her opportunity and allow the matrimonial prize to escape.
She was sincerely fond of Millicent, and desired for her the best