thought that I
had lost you, that I have known how much I love you, and how much my
happiness depends upon you. I can truly say that were you penniless, it
would make no shadow of difference to me. It is no longer a question of
arranging matters comfortably: it is a question of love. The estate is
nothing to me. It never has been anything, and it does not count at all
in the scale. I hope that you will put it altogether out of your mind in
giving me an answer; and that if you cannot say as truly and wholly as I
do, 'I love you,' that you will say as frankly as you have always spoken
to me, 'I love you very much as a cousin, Mark, but not in that way.'"

The girl had sat perfectly quiet while he was speaking.

He was standing before her now, and he took one of her hands.

"I love you, dear; I love you with all my heart. Do you love me?"

Then she looked up and rose to her feet, and placed both hands upon his
shoulders.

"As you love me, so I love you, Mark."

After that, conversation languished till Mrs. Cunningham came into the
room, five minutes later.

"We have come to the conclusion, Mrs. Cunningham," he said, "that there
will be no necessity for the visit to Bath. Millicent is otherwise
provided for; she has promised to be my wife."

"I am glad, Mark, glad indeed!" and she took Millicent in her arms and
kissed her tenderly. "I have all along hoped for it, but I began to
be afraid that you were both such obstinate young people that it would
never come about. I know that your father wished it, Mark, and he told
me that his brother had said that it would be a good arrangement if
some day you should come to like each other. I have guessed for the last
year, and, indeed, before then, that Millicent would not say 'No' if you
ever asked her; but this stupid estate seemed to stand in the way. Of
late, I have even come to hope that the obstinate girl would keep to her
intention, and that if, as I knew would be the case, you refused to take
the estate, she would give it away to some charity. In that case, there
could be nothing to prevent your speaking; and even then you would have
been between you very fairly equipped with this world's goods. However,
the present is a far better solution, and the discovery of the treasure
has saved you from three years' waiting before things were straightened
out. I feel as if I were her mother, Mark, having had her in my charge
since she was a baby; and as she grew up it became my