couldn't, if I would."

"I wouldn't, and I shan't. You won't either. She will!" replied Grizel
lucidly. "Oh, Man, don't worry! Katrine is sensible if you are not!
You must be good to her, and generous, and loving. Not affectionate,
remember! _laving_, and things will arrange themselves well for us all.
You'll see!"

"I hope I may. At present I'm in a maze. I am to say to her--what am I
to say?"

"That so long as you have a house there will be a Katrine's room, and a
welcome for her, if she chooses to stay. And you are to take no
notice--not the slightest--of anything she says in reply, but to leave
things to time, and her own good sense... Now we've wasted quite enough
time on silly details. Let's be sensible!--_I love you_, Martin!" ...

CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Grizel came to meet Katrine on her return from the afternoon expedition
and drew her into the oak-panelled morning-room. Her cheeks were
flushed, but her air was serenely unmoved.

"What do you think I've been doing? I've been proposing to Martin," she
announced placidly. "He's upstairs now, suffering from nervous shock,
but he is going to take me! ... Katrine, are you pleased?"

"But, but,--_all_ that money!" At the moment of certainty, the
remembrance of the enormous sacrifice involved swamped everything else.
Katrine gasped, and Grizel sighed.

"Yes! isn't it a bore? I _am_ sick about it," she said simply. Another
woman would have rolled her eyes, protested that "money was as naught
when compared with love," or some such banality, but that was not
Grizel. She heaved a second sigh, before recovering her cheerfulness,
then added hopefully: "However! I shall soon be fifty... Katrine, are
you pleased?"

For a moment Katrine was silent. Then she bent her tall head and kissed
Grizel on the cheek.

"Yes," she said sweetly, "I'm pleased. Martin will be happy."

"He is," Grizel held on to her hand. "Incredibly happy! And so am I.
I've loved him a long time, Katrine. I want you to know. There has
never been any one else. Thank you, dear, for taking care of him for me
so well."

Katrine was silent. That acknowledgment had a sting, sweet as it was,
since it seemed to point out the finality of her own office. Martin
needed her no longer. Grizel would take care of him now. She moved
away, and sat down in a chair.

"I didn't know. I should have suspected, I suppose, but you have known
each other so long, and Martin showed no