clusions have
been more rapid. The last has been that he will certainly marry
you--with or without a _dot_--before the elections. You are serious,
you know, my dear, though not so serious as he believes; you are a
girl of intelligence, and he is going to stand for some place or
other, and candidates with clever wives often obtain a majority over
candidates who are clever but have no wives. Yes, my dear, he is
certainly going to propose. You may postpone it by the use of great
tact for a month or so; you will hardly do so for longer."

"I don't want to postpone it," said Mary ruefully; "if it be
inevitable, I would sooner have it over."

"It will never be over," remarked Lady Garnett decisively. "Did I
not say that he was tenacious--_comme on ne l'est plus_? You may
refuse him once--twice; it will all be to go over again and again,
until you end by accepting him."

"Oh, Aunt Marcelle!" protested the young girl, with little flush of
righteous wrath.

"After all," continued the elder lady, ignoring her interruption,
"are you so very sure that--that it would not do? There are many
worse men in the world than Sylvester. Both _my_ husbands were
profligates, in addition to being fools. At any rate, this dear
Charles is very correct. And remember, the poor man is really in
love with you."

"I know," said Mary plaintively; "that is why I am so sorry. He is a
good man, a conscientious man, and a gentleman; and really,
sometimes lately, he has been quite simple and nice. Only----"

Lady Garnett completed the sentence for her with an impartial shrug.

"Only he is perfectly ridiculous, and as a lover quite impossible?
My dear, I grant it you with all my heart, and I think he has all
the qualities which make an excellent husband."

As the young girl was still silent, unconvinced, she went on after a
little while:

"You know, Mary, I have never tried to marry you. Frankly, my dear,
I do not believe very much in pushing marriages. My own, and most
others that I have known intimately, might have been very reasonably
made--let us say--in purgatory. But a girl must marry some time or
other, if she be rich. And you will have plenty of money, my poor
child! You shall do exactly as you please, but I must admit that
Charles is a most unobjectionable _parti_. After all, there is only
one other man I would sooner give you to, Mary, and he is
impossible."

"Aunt Marcelle! Aunt Marcelle!" pleaded the young girl faintly, her
dark he