e pastor, and be married? Then we can defy all the cousins in
creation. Can't you trust me?" he pleaded.

"Oh, yes, but----"

"Is it that you do not love me?"

"No," she said, and her eyes drooped shyly. "It seems strange that I dare
to say it to you when I have known you so little." She lifted her eyes,
full of a wonderful love light, and she was glorified to him, all meanly
dressed though she was. The smooth Madonna braids around the shapely head,
covered by the soft felt hat, seemed more beautiful to him than all the
elaborate head-dresses of modern times.

"Where is the 'but' then, dear? Shall we go now?"

"How can I go in this dress?" She looked down at her shabby shoes, rough
black gown, and cheap gloves in dismay, and a soft pink stole into her
face.

"You need not. Your own gown is out in the office in my suit-case. I
brought it with me, thinking you might need it--_hoping_ you might, I
mean;" and he smiled. "I have kept it always near me; partly because I
wanted the comfort of it, partly because I was afraid some one else might
find it, and desecrate our secret with their common-place wondering."

It was at this moment that the matron of the building stepped up to the
absorbed couple, resolved to do her duty. Her lips were pursed to their
thinnest, and displeasure was in her face.

The young man arose and asked in a grave tone:

"Excuse me, but can you tell me whether this lady can get a room here to
rest for a short time, while I go out and attend to a matter of business?"

The matron noticed his refined face and true eyes, and she accepted with a
good grace the ten-dollar bill he handed to her.

"We charge only fifty cents a night for a room," she said, glancing at the
humble garments of the man's companion. She thought the girl must be a
poor dependent or a country relative.

"That's all right," said the young man. "Just let the change help the good
work along."

That made a distinct change in the atmosphere. The matron smiled, and
retired to snub the girl with the discontented upper lip. Then she sent
the elevator boy to carry the girl's suit-case. As the matron came back to
the office, a baggy man with cushioned tires hustled out of the open door
into the street, having first cast back a keen, furtive glance that
searched every corner of the place.

"Now," said Dunham reassuringly, as the matron disappeared, "you can go up
to your room and get ready, and I will look after a few little matte