ssible time--and still wish it."

"You are right there, Mr. Graham. I must say you are right there.
Under all the circumstances of the case I think you were right to
wish to leave us."

"And therefore I shall go the first thing to-morrow morning"--in
saying which last words poor Felix could not refrain from showing a
certain unevenness of temper, and some disappointment.

"Gently, gently, Mr. Graham. Let us have a few more words before we
accede to the necessity of anything so sudden. Have you spoken to
Madeline on this subject?"

"Not a word."

"And I may presume that you do not intend to do so."

For a moment or so Felix Graham sat without speaking, and then,
getting up from his chair, he walked twice the length of the room.
"Upon my word, judge, I will not answer for myself if I remain here,"
he said at last.

A softer-hearted man than Judge Staveley, or one who could make
himself more happy in making others happy, never sat on the English
bench. Was not this a gallant young fellow before him,--gallant and
clever, of good honest principles, and a true manly heart? Was he not
a gentleman by birth, education, and tastes? What more should a man
want for a son-in-law? And then his daughter had had the wit to love
this man so endowed. It was almost on his tongue to tell Graham that
he might go and seek the girl and plead his own cause to her.

But bread is bread, and butcher's bills are bills! The man and the
father, and the successful possessor of some thousands a year, was
too strong at last for the soft-hearted philanthropist. Therefore,
having collected his thoughts, he thus expressed himself upon the
occasion:--

"Mr. Graham, I think you have behaved very well in this matter, and
it is exactly what I should have expected from you." The judge at the
time knew nothing about Mary Snow. "As regards yourself personally
I should be proud to own you as my son-in-law, but I am of course
bound to regard the welfare of my daughter. Your means I fear are but
small."

"Very small indeed," said Graham.

"And though you have all those gifts which should bring you on in
your profession, you have learned to entertain ideas, which hitherto
have barred you from success. Now I tell you what you shall do.
Remain here two or three days longer, till you are fit to travel,
and abstain from saying anything to my daughter. Come to me again
in three months, if you still hold the same mind, and I will pledge
myself to tell you