glanced up.

"For this once, just a little way."

Her partial acquiescence surprised him, for hitherto he had never been
permitted to escort her home in a cab. As a hansom drove up in answer to
the whistle, he wondered if it might be taken as a sign. With bounding
pulses he thought, "Shall I risk it and ask her?" And then, with a
return of sanity, "No; better wait and not spoil it." He handed her in
carefully, stepped in beside her, and asked what address he should give.
"Oh, Trafalgar Square," she replied carelessly, "and then St. Paul's if
necessary."

He obeyed, wondering what she could mean.

The cab had scarcely started before she turned to him and said demurely,
"You must think this strange--immodest, almost. But I have a reason.
First of all, I wish to thank you for your many kindnesses."

She paused, and he was understood to murmur, "Not at all. An honor." She
continued:

"But there is a question I must ask, and I beg a truthful answer. Why
have you so befriended a poor and humble girl like myself?"

At this question Henry Brown performed a _volte-face_. A moment before
he had resolved to wait. But being in love, encouraged by an excellent
supper and some Chianti, and fired by the graciousness of his divinity,
he threw caution to the winds. Though in the privacy of his office he
had more than once rehearsed the scene and prepared effective orations,
beginning "Miss," "Honored Ma'amselle," and "My dear Miss," he merely
said, "Well, it's this way, you see: I love you."

The age of "This is so sudden" has passed away; hence it was not
unconventional for the girl to affect no surprise at the announcement.
She was conventional enough to turn her head for a moment and appear to
be thinking deeply. She also obeyed the rules by observing presently,
"But that is foolish." Mr. Brown, his devotion crystallizing into a
sensible effort to win her, forgot his shyness and enlarged on the
pleasing theme.

"I beg to differ," he said steadily, though his heart was beating fast
and the roof of his mouth was curiously parched. "I don't consider it
foolish at all. I have loved you for a goodish time, and I want you to
be my wife. I am not a boy, miss, as you know. I'm a serious man of
forty, for it's no use trying to hide my age or my seriousness. I have
enough to keep us both in comfort, and--and I really love you very
much."

She was looking at him with an expression that was kind and not at all
embarrassed.

"Liste