d, and then she looked up at him with a sad gravity,
tears seeming just at the poise. "One reason's because I have a feeling
that it's never going to be."

"Why?"

"It's just a feeling."

"You haven't any reason or--"

"It's just a feeling."

"Well, if that's all," George said, reassured, and laughing confidently,
"I guess I won't be very much troubled!" But at once he became serious
again, adopting the tone of argument. "Lucy, how is anything ever going
to get a chance to come of it, so long as you keep sticking to 'almost'?
Doesn't it strike you as unreasonable to have a 'feeling' that we'll
never be married, when what principally stands between us is the fact
that you won't be really engaged to me? That does seem pretty absurd!
Don't you care enough about me to marry me?"

She looked down again, pathetically troubled. "Yes."

"Won't you always care that much about me?"

"I'm--yes--I'm afraid so, George. I never do change much about
anything."

"Well, then, why in the world won't you drop the 'almost'?"

Her distress increased. "Everything is--everything--"

"What about 'everything'?"

"Everything is so--so unsettled."

And at that he uttered an exclamation of impatience. "If you aren't the
queerest girl! What is 'unsettled'?"

"Well, for one thing," she said, able to smile at his vehemence, "you
haven't settled on anything to do. At least, if you have you've never
spoken of it."

As she spoke, she gave him the quickest possible side glance of hopeful
scrutiny; then looked away, not happily. Surprise and displeasure were
intentionally visible upon the countenance of her companion; and he
permitted a significant period of silence to elapse before making any
response. "Lucy," he said, finally, with cold dignity, "I should like to
ask you a few questions."

"Yes?"

"The first is: Haven't you perfectly well understood that I don't mean
to go into business or adopt a profession?"

"I wasn't quite sure," she said gently. "I really didn't know--quite."

"Then of course it's time I did tell you. I never have been able to see
any occasion for a man's going into trade, or being a lawyer, or any of
those things if his position and family were such that he didn't need
to. You know, yourself, there are a lot of people in the East--in the
South, too, for that matter--that don't think we've got any particular
family or position or culture in this part of the country. I've met
plenty of that kind of provinci