n on both his knees to
ask me," he answered.

Mrs. Farnaby was satisfied at last, and owned it without reserve. "My
own opinion," she said, "exactly expressed! don't be surprised. Didn't I
tell you I had no family prejudices? Do you know if he has spoken to my
husband, yet?"

Rufus looked at his watch. "I reckon he's just about done it by this
time."

Mrs. Farnaby paused, and reflected for a moment. She had already
attempted to prejudice her husband against Amelius, and had received
an answer which Mr. Farnaby considered to be final. "Mr. Goldenheart
honours us if he seeks our alliance; he is the representative of an old
English family." Under these circumstances, it was quite possible that
the proposals of Amelius had been accepted. Mrs. Farnaby was not the
less determined that the marriage should never take place, and not the
less eager to secure the assistance of her new ally. "When will Amelius
tell you about it?" she asked.

"When I go back to his lodgings, ma'am."

"Go back at once--and bear this in mind as you go. If you can find out
any likely way of parting these two young people (in their own best
interests), depend on one thing--if I can help you, I will. I'm as fond
of Amelius as you are. Ask him if I haven't done my best to keep him
away from my niece. Ask him if I haven't expressed my opinion, that
she's not the right wife for him. Come and see me again as soon as you
like. I'm fond of Americans. Good morning."

Rufus attempted to express his sense of gratitude, in his own briefly
eloquent way. He was not allowed a hearing. With one and the same
action, Mrs. Farnaby patted him on the shoulder, and pushed him out of
the room.

"If that woman was an American citizen," Rufus reflected, on his way
through the streets, "she'd be the first female President of the
United States!" His admiration of Mrs. Farnaby's energy and resolution,
expressed in these strong terms, acknowledged but one limit. Highly as
he approved of her, there was nevertheless an unfathomable something in
the woman's eyes that disturbed and daunted him.

CHAPTER 3

Rufus found his friend at the lodgings, prostrate on the sofa, smoking
furiously. Before a word had passed between them, it was plain to the
New Englander that something had gone wrong.

"Well," he asked; "and what does Farnaby say?"

"Damn Farnaby!"

Rufus was secretly conscious of an immense sense of relief. "I call
that a stiff way of putting it," he quietl