r. He
ought to be thankful for a lucky escape! He wished Jimmy joy of his
bargain! Nevertheless, he looked dejected as he sat in his easy-chair,
and Carrissima could not help feeling sorry for him in one way,
although she was profoundly thankful that he had been saved, in spite
of himself, from a marriage which could scarcely have failed to turn
out miserably.

"I suppose," said Carrissima, "I ought to send some sort of wedding
present?"

"Send a wedding present! Of course! Why not?" answered Colonel
Faversham, eager above all things to keep her for ever ignorant of his
own engagement. "Better go to Donaldson's," he added.

"There's not much time to lose," suggested Carrissima. "I think I will
go to-morrow morning."

"Upon my word," said her father, "I should rather like to get away for
a bit."

"Oh, so should I!" was the answer.

"You wouldn't care to cut into the season!"

"I really shouldn't mind a scrap," said Carrissima.

She was inclined to feel that she did not much care about anything, and
the news of Bridget's betrothal seemed to intensify her own
disappointment.

"Would next week be too soon?" asked Colonel Faversham, and she
promised to be ready by its end. He began at once to interest himself
in the trip; they were to go abroad, and having fetched some old
volumes of Baedeker from the smoking-room, he grew more cheerful than
Carrissima had seen him for some days.

The next morning she spent an hour and a half at Donaldson's,
inspecting various gold and silver articles, but at last selecting
nothing more original than a large rose-bowl. On her way home, close
to Golfney Place, she met Mark, and wondered whether she should stop if
he showed no sign of doing so. She had never passed him by before, and
in spite of a lingering sense of injustice, and even indignation, she
had not the heart to let him go on without a word. She felt confident,
however, that he would not have spoken if she had not taken the matter
out of his hands.

"Have you heard the latest news?" asked Carrissima, as he raised his
hat.

"About Jimmy and Bridget--yes, I was immensely glad to have a visit
from him late last night."

"I have just been choosing a wedding present at Donaldson's," said
Carrissima.

"Oh yes," replied Mark, so distantly that she looked up suddenly to his
face.

"How is your patient?" she inquired.

"Sir Wilford?" said Mark. "I have just come from Burnham Crescent.
Randolph Messeter op