"Sure one man wanted to kiss me an' I boxed his ears. And
another--ALMOST man--asked me to marry him."

"Oh!" ejaculated the lawyer.

"Me cousin Alaric."

"And what did you say?" questioned Hawkes.

"I towld him I'd rather have 'Michael.'"

He looked at her in open bewilderment and repeated:

"Michael?"

"Me dog," explained Peg, and her eyes danced with merriment.

Hawkes laughed heartily and relievedly.

"Then you refused him?"

"Of course I refused him. ME marry HIM! What for, I'd like to know?"

"Is he too young?"

"He's too selfish, an' too silly too, an' too everything I don't like
in a man!" replied Peg.

"And what DO you like in a man?"

"Precious little from what I've seen of them in England."

As Hawkes looked at her, radiant in her spring-like beauty, her clear,
healthy complexion, her dazzling teeth, her red-gold hair, he felt a
sudden thrill go through him. His life had been so full, so
concentrated on the development of his career, that he had never
permitted the feminine note to obtrude itself on his life. His effort
had been rewarded by an unusually large circle of influential clients
who yielded him an exceedingly handsome revenue. He had heard whispers
of a magistracy. His PUBLIC future was assured.

But his PRIVATE life was arid. The handsome villa in Pelham Crescent
had no one to grace the head of the table, save on the occasional
visits of his aged mother, or the still rarer ones of a married sister.

And here was he in the full prime of life.

It is remarkable how, at times, in one's passage through life, the
throb in a voice, the breath of a perfume, the chord of an old song,
will arouse some hidden note that had so far lain dormant in one's
nature, and which, when awakened into life, has influences that reach
through generations.

It was even so with Hawkes, as he looked at the little Irish girl, born
of an aristocratic English mother, looking up at him, hand
outstretched, expectant, in all her girlish pudicity.

Yielding to some uncontrollable impulse, he took the little hand in
both of his own. He smiled nervously, and there was a suspicious tremor
in his voice:

"You would like a man of position in life to give you what you most
need. Of years to bring you dignity, and strength to protect you."

"I've got HIM," stated Peg unexpectedly, withdrawing her hand and
eyeing the bank-notes that seemed as far from her as when she first
asked for them.

"You've got him?"