that this was no temporary passion, no romantic love which
time might banish, that she was of such a temperament that she could
not change,--then I had to give way. Gerald, I suppose, will bring me
some kitchen-maid for his wife."

"Oh, sir, you should not say that to me."

"No;--I should not have said it to you. I beg your pardon,
Silverbridge." Then he paused a moment, turning over certain thoughts
within his own bosom. "Perhaps, after all, it is well that a pride of
which I am conscious should be rebuked. And it may be that the rebuke
has come in such a form that I should be thankful. I know that I can
love Isabel."

"That to me will be everything."

"And this young man has nothing that should revolt me. I think he has
been wrong. But now that I have said it I will let all that pass from
me. He will dine with us to-day."

Silverbridge then went up to see his sister. "So you have settled
your little business, Mary?"

"Oh, Silverbridge, you will wish me joy?"

"Certainly. Why not?"

"Papa is so stern with me. Of course he has given way, and of course
I am grateful. But he looks at me as though I had done something to
be forgiven."

"Take the good the gods provide you, Mary. That will all come right."

"But I have not done anything wrong. Have I?"

"That is a matter of opinion. How can I answer about you when I don't
quite know whether I have done anything wrong or not myself? I am
going to marry the girl I have chosen. That's enough for me."

"But you did change."

"We need not say anything about that."

"But I have never changed. Papa just told me that he would consent,
and that I might write to him. So I did write, and he came. But papa
looks at me as though I had broken his heart."

"I tell you what it is, Mary. You expect too much from him. He has
not had his own way with either of us, and of course he feels it."

As Tregear had said, there was quite a family party in Carlton
Terrace, though as yet the family was not bound together by family
ties. All the Boncassens were there, the father, the mother, and the
promised bride. Mr. Boncassen bore himself with more ease than any
one in the company, having at his command a gift of manliness which
enabled him to regard this marriage exactly as he would have done any
other. America was not so far distant but what he would be able to
see his girl occasionally. He liked the young man and he believed
in the comfort of wealth. Therefore he was satisfied.