necessity for those decisive words,

"Ellinor, dearest, will you--can you marry me?" and her reply was--given
with a deep blush I must record, and in a soft murmuring tone--

"Yes--oh, yes--I never thought of anything else."

"Then I may speak to your father, may not I, darling?"

"He knows; I am sure he knows; and he likes you so much. Oh, how happy I
am!"

"But still I must speak to him before I go. When can I see him, my
Ellinor? I must go back to town at four o'clock."

"I heard his voice in the stable-yard only just before you came. Let me
go and find out if he is gone to the office yet."

No! to be sure he was not gone. He was quietly smoking a cigar in his
study, sitting in an easy-chair near the open window, and leisurely
glancing at all the advertisements in _The Times_. He hated going to the
office more and more since Dunster had become a partner; that fellow gave
himself such airs of investigation and reprehension.

He got up, took the cigar out of his mouth, and placed a chair for Mr.
Corbet, knowing well why he had thus formally prefaced his entrance into
the room with a--

"Can I have a few minutes' conversation with you, Mr. Wilkins?"