metimes he did not, wishing always that he knew for certain. Here then
was a chance for confirming his fears or for putting them at rest, and
blessing 'Tilda Tubbs for declining to enter his back office, he said in
reply to Aunt Betsy's "If she ever marries," "And of course she will.
She is engaged, I believe?"

"Engaged? Who to? When? Strange she never writ, nor Katy neither," Aunt
Betsy exclaimed, while Mark, raised to an ecstatic state, replied, "I
refer to Dr. Grant. Haven't they been engaged for a long time past?"

"Why--no--indeed," was the response, and Mark could have hugged the good
old lady, who continued in a confidential tone: "I used to think they'd
make a good match; but I've gin that up, and now I sometimes mistrust
'twas Katy, Morris wanted. Anyhow, he's mighty changed since she was
married, and he never speaks her name. I never heard anybody say so, and
maybe it's all a fancy, so you won't mention it."

"Certainly not," Mark replied, drawing nearer to her, and continuing in
a low tone, "Isn't it possible that after all Helen is engaged to her
cousin, and you do not know it?"

"No," and Aunt Betsy grew very positive. "I am sure she ain't, for only
t'other day I said to Morris that I wouldn't wonder if Helen and another
chap had a hankerin' for one another; and he said he wished it might be
so, for you--no, that other chap, I mean--would make a splendid
husband," and Aunt Betsy turned very red at the blunder, which made Mark
Ray feel as if he walked on air, with no obstacle whatever in his path.

Still he could not be satisfied without probing her a little deeper, and
so he said: "And that other chap? Does he live in Silverton?"

Aunt Betsy's look was a sufficient answer; for the old lady knew he was
quizzing her, just as she felt that in some way she had removed a
stumbling block from his path. She had--a very large stumbling block,
and in the first flush of his joy and gratitude he could do most
anything. So when she spoke of going up to Katy's, he set himself
industriously at work to prevent it for that day at least. "They were to
have a large dinner party," he said, "and both Mrs. Cameron and Miss
Lennox would be wholly occupied. Would it not be better to wait until
to-morrow? Did she contemplate a long stay in New York?"

"No, she might go back to-morrow--certainly the day after," Aunt Betsy
replied, her voice trembling at this fresh impediment thrown in the way
of her seeing Katy.

The quave