said hastily, "There is not the least use in
bothering me; I will tell you nothing to-day."

"Promise me on your honor that you will say Yes to-morrow, and I will
leave you in peace until then."

"I will not."

"The deuce take your sex," he said plaintively.

"You know my mind now, and I have to stand here coquetting because
you don't know your own. If I cared for my comfort I should remain a
bachelor."

"I advise you to do so," she said, stealing backward towards the door.
"You are a very interesting widower. A wife would spoil you. Consider
the troubles of domesticity, too."

"I like troubles. They strengthen--Aha!" (she had snatched at the knob
of the door, and he swiftly put his hand on hers and stayed her). "Not
yet, if you please. Can you not speak out like a woman--like a man, I
mean? You may withhold a bone from Max until he stands on his hind legs
to beg for it, but you should not treat me like a dog. Say Yes frankly,
and do not keep me begging."

"What in the world do you want to marry me for?"

"Because I was made to carry a house on my shoulders, and will do so.
I want to do the best I can for myself, and I shall never have such a
chance again. And I cannot help myself, and don't know why; that is the
plain truth of the matter. You will marry someone some day." She shook
her head. "Yes, you will. Why not marry me?"

Agatha bit her nether lip, looked ruefully at the ground, and, after
a long pause, said reluctantly, "Very well. But mind, I think you are
acting very foolishly, and if you are disappointed afterwards, you must
not blame ME."

"I take the risk of my bargain," he said, releasing her hand, and
leaning against the door as he took out his pocket diary. "You will have
to take the risk of yours, which I hope may not prove the worse of the
two. This is the seventeenth of June. What date before the twenty-fourth
of July will suit you?"

"You mean the twenty-fourth of July next year, I presume?"

"No; I mean this year. I am going abroad on that date, married or not,
to attend a conference at Geneva, and I want you to come with me. I will
show you a lot of places and things that you have never seen before.
It is your right to name the day, but you have no serious business to
provide for, and I have."

"But you don't know all the things I shall--I should have to provide.
You had better wait until you come back from the continent."

"There is nothing to be provided on your part but settleme