s Grey--a fly--a blue-bottle! Now really--how did you know what
he was thinking of?"

"I watched him closely--and I found him out at last. Have you not
guessed what the meaning of the whole thing was?"

"Well, Miss Grey, I can't say that I quite understand it just yet; but I
am sure I shall be greatly interested on hearing the explanation."

"It was simply the imposture of a blue-bottle trying to pass himself off
as a bee! It was man's affectation put under the microscope!"

Mr. Sheppard looked up at her in the hope of catching from her face some
clear intimation as to whether she was in jest or earnest, and demeaning
himself accordingly. But her eyes were cast down and he could not make
out the riddle. Driven by desperation, he dashed in, to prevent the
possible propounding of another before he had time to come to his point.

"All the professions of men are not affectations, Miss Grey! Oh, no: far
from it indeed. There are some feelings in our breasts which are only
too real!"

She saw that the declaration was coming now and must be confronted.

"I have long wished for an opportunity of revealing to you some of my
feelings, Miss Grey, and I hope the chance has now arrived. May I
speak?"

"I can't prevent you from speaking, Mr. Sheppard."

"You will hear me?"

He was in such fear of her and so awkward about the terms of his
declaration of love that he kept clutching at every little straw that
seemed to give him something to hold on to for a moment's rest and
respite.

"I had better hear you, I suppose," she said with an air of profound
depression, "if you will go on, Mr. Sheppard. But if you would please
me, you would stop where you are and say no more."

"You know what I am going to say, Miss Grey--you must have known it this
long time. I have asked your natural guardians and advisers, and they
encourage me to speak. Oh, Miss Grey--I love you. May I hope that I may
look forward to the happiness of one day making you my wife?"

It was all out now, and she was glad. The rest would be easy. He looked
even then so prosaic and formal that she did not believe in any of his
professed emotions, and she was therefore herself unmoved.

"No, Mr. Sheppard," she said, looking calmly at him straight in the
face. "Such a day will never come. Nothing that I have seen in life
makes me particularly anxious to be married; and I could not marry you."

He had expected evasion, but not bluntness. He knew well enough that th