this time," he answered. "And now, I do not
want to keep it any longer, Miss Dolly, unless--unless I may have you
too."

Dolly looked at him now with a face of startled inquiry and uneasiness.
Whether she were more startled or incredulous of what she heard, it
would be impossible to say. The expression in her eyes grew to be
almost terror. But Mr. Shubrick smiled a little as he met them.

"I kept the note, for I always knew, from that time, that I should
marry that little girl, if ever I could find her,--and if she would let
me."

Dolly's face was fairly blanched. "But--you belong to somebody else,"
she said.

"No," said he,--"I beg your pardon. I belong to nobody in the world,
but myself. And you."

"Christina told me"----

"She told you true," said Mr. Shubrick quite composedly. "There was a
connection subsisting between us, which, while it lasted, bound us to
each other. It happened, as such things happen; years ago we were
thrown into each other's company, in the country, when I was home on
leave. My home was near hers; we saw a great deal of each other; and
fancied that we liked each other more than the fact was, or rather in a
different way. So we were engaged; on my part it was one of those
boyish engagements which boys frequently form before they know their
own minds, or what they want. On the other side you can see how it was
from the circumstances of the case. Christina did not care enough about
me to want to be married; she always put it off; and I was not deeply
enough concerned to find the delay very hard to bear. And then, when I
saw you in Rome that Christmas time, I knew immediately that if ever in
the world I married anybody, it would be the lady that wore that chain."

"But Christina?" said Dolly, still with a face of terrified trouble.
Was then Mr. Shubrick a traitor, false to his engagements, deserting a
person to whom, whether willingly or not, he was every way bound? He
did not look like a man conscious of dishonourable dealing, of any
sort; and he answered in a voice that was both calm and unconcerned.

"Christina and I are good friends, but not engaged friends any more.
Will you read that?"

He handed Dolly another letter as he spoke, and Dolly, bewildered,
opened it.

"Ischl, _May_ 6, 18--.

"DEAR SANDIE,--"You are quite ridiculous to want me to write this
letter, for anybody that knows you, knows that whatever you say is the
truth, absolutely unmixed and unvarnished. Your word