le, and, leaning forward so that the two faces were only a few
inches apart, spoke a few startling words--

"Has he--_proposed_ to you? I must know! You must tell me!"

It was a command, rather than an appeal, and Claire automatically
replied--

"He--he did! Yes, but--"

"And you?"

"I--couldn't. I said no!"

"You said no! Erskine asked you to be his wife, and you _refused_?"
Janet stared in incredulous bewilderment. A spark of indignation shone
in her brown eyes. "But why? You care for him. Any girl might be
proud to marry Erskine Fanshawe. _Why_?"

"I can't tell you. It's so difficult. His mother--she didn't want me.
She would have hated it. She almost turned me out."

"His _mother_! Mrs Fanshawe!" Janet's voice was full of an ineffable
surprise. "You refused Erskine because of _her_ prejudice? But she is
always changing; she is the most undependable woman on the face of the
earth! She is charming, and I'm fond of her, but I should not take her
advice about a pair of gloves. Nothing that she could say would
possibly have the slightest influence on my life. She's irresponsible;
she sees entirely from her own standpoint. And Erskine--Erskine is a
rock!" She paused, pressing her lips together to still their trembling,
and Claire answered with a note of apology in her voice.

"Janet, I _know_! Don't think I don't appreciate him. Wait till you
hear how it happened... He followed me to the station; it was the very
last moment, just as the train was starting. There was time for only
one word, and--I was sore and angry!"

Janet looked at her, a long, searching look.

"It's curious, but I always knew this would come. When I saw you
sitting together at supper that first night, I knew then. All the time
I knew it in my heart, but on the surface it seemed ridiculous, for you
never met!"

"Never that you did not know, except one time in the park. There was
nothing to tell you, Janet; nothing to hide."

"No. So he said. We talked of you in Scotland, you know, and it was
just as I thought--a case of recognising each other at first sight. He
said the moment he saw you you seemed different from everyone else, and
he hoped and believed that you felt the same. That is how people ought
to love; the right way, when both are attached, both feel the same...
And it is so rare. Yet you _refused_!"

"Would you marry a man if his family disapproved?"

"Oh, yes! I should not be marrying the f