'The wedding to-day--Sunday?' he cried.

'We fixed Sunday not to hinder much time at this busy season of the
year,' replied she.

'And have you, then, put it off--surely not?'

'You sent for me, and I have come,' she answered humbly, like an
obedient familiar in the employ of some great enchanter. Indeed, the
Baron's power over this innocent girl was curiously like enchantment,
or mesmeric influence. It was so masterful that the sexual element
was almost eliminated. It was that of Prospero over the gentle
Ariel. And yet it was probably only that of the cosmopolite over the
recluse, of the experienced man over the simple maid.

'You have come--on your wedding-day!--O Margery, this is a mistake.
Of course, you should not have obeyed me, since, though I thought
your wedding would be soon, I did not know it was to-day.'

'I promised you, sir; and I would rather keep my promise to you than
be married to Jim.'

'That must not be--the feeling is wrong!' he murmured, looking at the
distant hills. 'There seems to be a fate in all this; I get out of
the frying-pan into the fire. What a recompense to you for your
goodness! The fact is, I was out of health and out of spirits, so I-
-but no more of that. Now instantly to repair this tremendous
blunder that we have made--that's the question.'