uble till that time shall
come. And I am grateful,--very grateful." Then she left him suffering
from another headache.

"Was there anything said between you and Mr. Anderson yesterday?" her
aunt inquired, that afternoon.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because it is necessary that I should know."

"I do not see the necessity. Mr. Anderson has, at any rate, your
permission to say what he likes to me, but I am not on that account
bound to tell you all that he does say. But I will tell you. He has
promised to trouble me no farther. I told him that I was engaged to Mr.
Annesley, and he, like a gentleman, has assured me that he will desist."

"Just because you asked him?"

"Yes, aunt; just because I asked him."

"He will not be bound by such a promise for a moment. It is a thing not
to be heard of. If that kind of thing is to go on, any young lady will
be entitled to ask any young gentleman not to say a word of marriage,
just at her request."

"Some of the young ladies would not care for that, perhaps."

"Don't be impertinent."

"I should not, for one, aunt; only that I am already engaged."

"And of course the young ladies would be bound to make such requests,
which would go for nothing at all. I never heard of anything so
monstrous. You are not only to have the liberty of refusing, but are to
be allowed to bind a gentleman not to ask!"

"He has promised."

"Pshaw! It means nothing."

"It is between him and me. I asked him because I wished to save myself
from being troubled."

"As for that other man, my dear, it is quite out of the question. From
all that I hear, it is on the cards that he may be arrested and put into
prison. I am quite sure that at any rate he deserves it. The letters
which Sir Magnus gets about him are fearful. The things that he has
done,--well, penal servitude for life would be the proper punishment. And
it will come upon him sooner or later. I never knew a man of that kind
escape. And you now to come and tell us that you intend to be his wife!"

"I do," said Florence, bobbing her head.

"And what your uncle says to you has no effect?"

"Not the least in the world; nor what my aunt says. I believe that
neither the one nor the other know what they are talking about. You have
been defaming a gentleman of the highest character, a Fellow of a
college, a fine-hearted, noble, high-spirited man, simply
because--because--because--" Then she burst into tears and rushed out of
the room; but she did no