said to himself,--matrimony is honest. He was in all worldly respects
a fit match for the young lady. To his own thinking there was nothing
preposterous in the nature of his request, though it might have been
made with some precipitate informality. He did not regard himself
exactly as the lady regarded him, and therefore, though he saw her
surprise, he still hoped that he might be able to convince her that in
all that he was doing he was as anxious for the welfare of her child as
she could be herself.

She sat there so long without saying a word that he found himself
obliged to renew his suit. 'Of course, Mrs. Bolton, I am aware how very
little you know of me.'

'Nothing at all,' she answered, hurriedly;--'or rather too much.'

He blushed up to his eyes, perfectly understanding the meaning of her
words; and, knowing that he had not deserved them, he was almost angry.
'If you will make inquiry I think you will find that I have so far
succeeded as to justify you in hoping that I may be able to marry and
settle myself in my own country.'

'You don't know my daughter at all.'

'Very little.'

'It is quite out of the question. She is very young, and such a thing
has never occurred to her. And we are not the same sort of people.'

'Why not, Mrs. Bolton? Your husband and my father have been intimate
friends for a great many years. It is not as though I had taken up the
idea only yesterday. It has been present with me, comforting me, during
all my work, for the last five years. I know all your daughter's
features as though she had been my constant companion.' The lady
shivered and almost trembled at this profanation of her child's name.
It was trouble to her that one so holy should ever have been thought
about by one so unholy. 'Of course I do not ask for anything at
present;--but will you not consult your husband as to the propriety of
allowing her to make my acquaintance?'

'I shall tell my husband, of course.'

'And will repeat to him what I say?'

'I shall tell him,--as I should any other most wild proposition that
might be made to me. But I am quite sure that he will be very angry.'

'Angry! why should he be angry?'

'Because----' Then she stopped.

'I do not think, Mrs. Bolton, that there can be any cause for anger. If
I were a beggar, if I were below her in position, if I had not means to
keep a wife,--even if I were a stranger to his name, he might be angry.
But I do not think he can be angry with me, n