out and plan, that I have had no chance to ask you some
questions that I have been thinking about. In the first place I want you
to tell me all about Mr. Walkirk. How long has he been with you? Are you
always going to keep him? What does he do? What was his business before
he came to you? Was he always an under-study for people? It has struck
me that that would be such an odd occupation for a man to have. And then
there is another thing,--a mere supposition of mine, but still something
that I have had a sort of curiosity about: supposing that the House of
Martha had not been broken up, and it were all fixed and settled that I
should stay there always, and supposing cousin Marcia had left us, and
had gone into her college work, just as she is doing now--do you think
that you would have had any desire to study medicine?

"And then there is another thing that is not a question, but something
which I think I ought to tell you,--something which you have a right to
know before we are married."

"Sylvia," said I, interrupting her, "let me give you a little piece of
wisdom from my own experience: The gnawings of ungratified curiosity are
often very irritating, but we should remember that the gnawings of
gratified curiosity are frequently mangling."

"Indeed!" she exclaimed, "is that the way you look at it? Well, I can
assure you that what I have to tell is of no importance at all, but if
you have anything to say that is mangling, I want to hear it this very
minute."

"My dear Sylvia," said I, "we have had so much to do and so much to talk
about, and so much to think about and plan, that I have had no chance to
finish the story of Tomaso and Lucilla."

"That is true," she cried, with sparkling eyes; "and above all things I
want to hear the end of that story."

I sat by her on the sofa and finished the story of the Sicilian lovers.

"In some ways," she said, "it is very much like our story, isn't it?"

"Except," I answered, "that the best part of ours is just beginning."

***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HOUSE OF MARTHA***

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