who inherits some of her father's
sagacity, has always acted on the theory that if you consistently
neglect to do things which absolutely have to be done, some one else
will always do them for you,--and in this affair I am the some one
else, doing most of the real work while Isabel placidly speculates on
whether her father will or won't relent at the eleventh hour.

"I could save her the trouble of her speculations, for I know John M.
pretty well, and the number of times he has changed his mind in the
course of his life cannot be more than six! But Isabel argues that he
reversed his decision once before on a matter in which the ingenious
Mr. Wilkinson figured, and so he may do again. But up to now there are
no signs of any such happy conclusion, for Mr. Hurd stands on his
promise that if Isabel marries Charlie, her doom will be on her own
head, so to speak. He has more than once thrown out the fine old
conventional paternal threat--'not one penny, and so forth'--which
would give me, I admit, far more concern than it seems to occasion
either of the interested parties.

"Certainly Mr. Hurd has thus far given an excellent imitation of a very
fair grade of adamant, as Charlie puts it. He concedes nothing that he
doesn't have to. He says Isabel is of age and can legally marry whom
she pleases, but if she pleases to marry Charles Wilkinson, the Hurds'
roof shall not be the scene of the function. Charlie's obvious retort
to this was that this didn't cause him very much disappointment, as Mr.
Hurd's or any one else's roof seemed a curious and somewhat
inappropriate place for a marriage ceremony, anyway, and he didn't
think the prospect of himself and his ushers being obliged to reach the
altar by crawling out of a scuttle would lend to the occasion a dignity
strictly in accordance with his well-known reputation for always doing
things in correct form.

"So the pair of them are now trying to decide whether to have a church
ceremony or to run away--practically--and be married without any
society annex whatever to the affair. I myself rather favor the
latter, but Charlie is quite keen for the church. He is really very
proud of Isabel, and so far as I can make out he would like a big
wedding to advertise, as it were, his achievement in getting her. And
then he adds as usual that his tailor and other similar friends ought
to be considered, and the more important the function the firmer his
future credit will be.

"Mea