"Well, no--not exactly."

"Will she?"

He brought his hand down on the table. "By heavens, I'll make her! I've
got most of the things I've wanted during my life, and it'll be odd if I
don't get the thing I want more than all the rest put together. Now
answer my question, my dear Katherine," he continued teasingly. "Would
you have married me?"

The smile faded from Katherine's face. She could not parry the question
as she had done before, and it probed depths. She said very seriously
and sweetly:

"I should have done, Austin, as I always shall do, whatever you ask me
to do. I'm glad you didn't ask me--very glad--for the love a woman gives
a man died within me, you know."

He took her hand and kissed it.

"My dear," said he, "you are the truest friend that ever man had."

There was a short pause. Austin looked out of the window and Katherine
wiped away some moisture in her eyes. This scene of sentimentality was
not at all what she had come for. Soon she rose with a determined air
and joined Austin by the window.

"It was as a true friend that I wanted to speak to you to-day. To warn
you."