want you to return with me, dear."

"I can't get ready so soon as that," replied Jane. "It will take
a whole month, at least."

She was glad, for she hoped that whatever called him to England
might still further delay the wedding. She had made a bad bargain,
but she intended carrying her part loyally to the bitter end--if
she could manage to secure a temporary reprieve, though, she felt
that she was warranted in doing so. His reply disconcerted her.

"Very well, Jane," he said. "I am disappointed, but I shall let
my trip to England wait a month; then we can go back together."

But when the month was drawing to a close she found still another
excuse upon which to hang a postponement, until at last, discouraged
and doubting, Clayton was forced to go back to England alone.

The several letters that passed between them brought Clayton no
nearer to a consummation of his hopes than he had been before, and
so it was that he wrote directly to Professor Porter, and enlisted
his services. The old man had always favored the match. He liked
Clayton, and, being of an old southern family, he put rather an
exaggerated value on the advantages of a title, which meant little
or nothing to his daughter.

Clayton urged that the professor accept his invitation to be his
guest in London, an invitation which included the professor's entire
little family--Mr. Philander, Esmeralda, and all. The Englishman
argued that once Jane was there, and home ties had been broken,