smoke a cigar with him
in his private room, and the invitation was not one to be evaded. I was
subconsciously aware that it elicited a meaning exchange of glances
between Marjory and her mother.

"Well, Mordan, I hope things go well with you in Fleet Street," said Mr.
Wheeler, when his cigar was alight and we were both seated in his
luxurious little den.

"Oh, tolerably," I said. "Of course, I am quite an obscure person there
as yet; quite on the lowest rungs, you know."

"Quite so; quite so; and from all I hear, competition is as keen there
as in the City, though the rewards are--rather different, of course."

I nodded, and we were silent for a few moments. Then he flicked a little
cigar-ash into a tray and looked up sharply, with quite the Moorgate
Street expression, I remember thinking.

"I think you are a good deal attracted by my youngest girl, Mordan?" he
said; and his tone demanded a reply even more than his words.

"Yes, I certainly admire her greatly," I said, more than a little
puzzled by the wording of the question; more than a little fluttered, it
may be; for it seemed to me a welcoming sort of question, and I was
keenly aware of my ineligibility as a suitor.

"Exactly. That is no more than I expected to hear from you. Indeed, I
think anything less would--well, I shouldn't have been at all pleased
with anything less."

His complaisance quite startled me. Somehow, too, it reminded me of my
many baffled retirements of that day, before the elements in Sylvia's
character which chilled and repelled me. I was almost glad that I had
not committed myself to any warmer or more definite declaration. Mr.
Wheeler weighed his cigar with nice care.

"Yes," he continued. "If you had disputed the attraction--the
attachment, I should perhaps say--I should have found serious ground for
criticizing your--your behaviour to my girl. As it is, of course, the
thing is natural enough. You have been attracted; the child is
attractive; and you have paid her marked attentions--which is what any
young man might be expected to do."

"If he is going to suggest an engagement," I thought, "I must be very
clear about my financial position, or want of position." Mr. Wheeler
continued thoughtfully to eye his cigar.

"Yes, it is perfectly natural," he said; "and you will probably think,
therefore, that what I am going to say is very unnatural and unkind. But
you must just bear in mind that I am a good deal older than you, and,
a