rom Germany with a long-
bearded professor in her train?"

"Not Fraulein, no, but the professor might apply. Nearer home, child!
You have not guessed every member of the family yet. You have not
thought of--"

"Esther!" screamed Peggy, and instantly read confirmation in the smiles
of assent. "It is! It is! Esther and the man with the dusty coat!
Oh, how lovely! How perfectly, deliciously lovely and quaint! Not an
old maid, after all, but the first to be engaged and married! Oh,
Esther, Esther! Who would have thought it? Who would have believed
that you could condescend to such foolishness?"

"Ha! ha! ha!" guffawed Rob, in rolling, subterranean laughter. "What a
joke! I'll have something to say to Miss Esther on this subject! She
must be made to realise the inconsistency of her conduct. What about
the ladies' school?"

"Is she fond of him? Is he fond of her? When did it happen? When did
they come? How did they break it to you? Did they walk in together,
hand in hand, and kneel down before you, so that you could say, `Bless
you, my children,' in approved stage fashion?"

"Yes, they did," cried Mellicent gushingly. "At least, if they didn't,
it was almost as good. She was coming home over Sunday, you know, and
he met her in town, and--and _asked_ her, you know, and then he got into
the train, and intended to go as far as the first station, and he went
on and on, until suddenly here they were, and father and mother and I
were standing on the platform to receive them. And _she_ got out and
_he_ got out, and they looked so silly and she said, `M-m-my friend,
Professor Reid,' and he tried to shake hands with mother three separate
times over, and couldn't find her hand, he was so horribly embarrassed,
and then we all drove home in the most horrible silence, and came into
the drawing-room, and Esther went crimson in the face, and said, `Father
and mother, I want to tell you--Professor Reid has asked me--I have per-
omised to be his wife,' and he scraped his feet on the floor and blurted
out funny short sentences, three words at a time, `Love her dearly,'
`Feel much honoured,' `Object of life,' `Make her happy,' and mother
said, `Oh, my dear child, I am so glad! I am so thankful for your
happiness!' and set to work and cried all the rest of the evening, and
father wriggled about in his coat and looked horribly uncomfortable, and
said, `Hum--hum--hum. Come into the study, and have a smoke!'"

"My dea