t. He put
out his hand again and said:

"I think I know now, Mr. Rayburn, what you were going to say, and if I
am right, let me, her brother, say it for you and for her, you won't
refuse my hand this time, will you?"

"No," said Rayburn, "I won't, and for the matter of that," he went on as
their hands met, "I don't think there is much more for either of us to
say, except just for me to ask you one question."

"Yes," said Vane, "and what is that?"

"You are her brother and a priest. Will you take me for your
brother-in-law and marry us?"

Their hands were still clasped; each was looking straight into the
other's eyes, and the two faces, so different individually, and yet for
the moment so strangely alike, fronted each other in silence. Then Vane
dropped Rayburn's hand, put his hands on his shoulders, and said:

"You cannot be lying, you haven't the mouth or the eyes of a man who
tells lies. You have sinned, sinned deeply, for you have bought with
your money what should have no other price than lawful love; but love
has come to you, and love has made lawful and right what was sinful
before. You told me at first that you wanted to confess to me both as
man and priest. Very well, as man, as Carol's brother I forgive you, if
you have done anything that I have to forgive, and as a priest of God I
will marry you, and when you have taken the Sacrament of Matrimony from
my hands, as a priest, I will absolve you from your sin. It is a
miracle----"

"Yes," said Rayburn, "it is. I am not altogether of your way of
thinking, you know, but there, I am with you; it is a miracle in more
ways than one. I know I am expressing myself horribly badly, but, to put
it as shortly as I can, it is the sort of miracle that only a good,
clean-souled, pure-hearted girl like Carol, could have worked upon a
fellow like myself. I tell you, Maxwell, honestly, that if she wouldn't
have me now, I'm damned if I know what I should do. She is everything
that is good to me. I am worth nearly a couple of millions, and not a
cent of it would be worth anything to me if I lost her. And so you
really will marry us?"

"I will," said Vane. "Thank God and you into whose heart He has put this
saving thought of righteousness."

"Yes," said Rayburn, "I see what you mean, but really, the credit isn't
mine at all, it is all Carol's. Do you know, Maxwell, that I am going to
have one of the most delightful wives man ever won? If I could only tell
you just exactl