nder out of his senses--he telegraphed to Mrs. Lorraine
for permission to bring Sheila and her father to dinner at five.
He certainly knew that such a request was a trifle cool, but he had
discovered that Mrs. Lorraine was not easily shocked by such audacious
experiments on her good nature. When he received the telegram in
reply he knew it granted what he had asked. The words were merely,
"Certainly, by all means, but not later than five."

Then he hastened down to the house in which Sheila lived, and
found that she and her father had just returned from visiting some
exhibition. Mr. Mackenzie was not in the room.

"Sheila," Ingram said, "what would you think of my getting married?"

Sheila looked up with a bright smile and said, "It would please me
very much--it would be a great pleasure to me; and I have expected it
for some time."

"You have expected it?" he repeated with a stare.

"Yes," she said quietly.

"Then you fancy you know--" he said, or rather stammered, in great
embarrassment, when she interrupted him by saying,

"Oh yes, I think I know. When you came down every evening to tell me
all the praises of Mrs. Lorraine, and how clever she was, and kind,
I expected you would come some day with another message; and now I
am very glad to hear it. You have changed all my opinions about her,
and--"

Then she rose and took both his hands, and looked frankly into his
face.

"--And I do hope most sincerely you will be happy, my dear friend."

Ingram was fairly taken aback at the consequences of his own
imprudence. He had never dreamed for a moment that any one would have
suspected such a thing; and he had thrown out the suggestion to Sheila
almost as a jest, believing, of course, that it compromised no one.
And here, before he had spoken a word to Mrs. Lorraine on the subject,
he was being congratulated on his approaching marriage.

"Oh, Sheila," he said, "this is all a mistake. It was a joke of mine.
If I had known you would think of Mrs. Lorraine, I should not have
said a word about it."

"But it is Mrs. Lorraine?" Sheila said.

"Well, but I have never mentioned such a thing to her--never hinted it
in the remotest manner. I dare say if I had she might laugh the matter
aside as too absurd."

"She will not do that," Sheila said. "If you ask her to marry you,
she will marry you: I am sure of that from what I have heard, and she
would be very foolish if she was not proud and glad to do that. And
you--wha