catches her sleeve.

"You mean----" says she.

"Must I explain? With his heart full of you, do you think he should
marry this girl?"

"Oh, _his_ heart!" says Mrs. Bethune. "Has he a heart? Dear
Margaret, don't be an enthusiast; be like everybody else. It is so
much more comfortable."

"You can put it off like this," says Miss Knollys in a low tone. "It
is very simple; but you should think. I have always thought you--you
liked Maurice, but you were a--a friend of his. Save him from this.
Don't let him marry this child."

"I don't think he will marry a child!" says Mrs. Bethune, laughing.

"You mean----"

"I mean nothing at all--nothing, really," says Marian. "But that
baby! My dear Margaret, how impossible!"



CHAPTER VIII.

HOW A STORM RAGED; AND HOW, WHEN A MAN AND WOMAN MET FACE TO FACE,
THE VICTORY--FOR A WONDER--WENT TO THE MAN.