ful, and bent upon taking your
own way--well--my dear, you must take the consequence; and when you are
a struggling wife and mother, old before your time, weighed down with
the weary burden of petty cares, do not say, "My grandmother might have
saved me from this martyrdom."'

'I will run the risk, grandmother. I will be answerable for my own
fate.'

'So be it, Mary. And now send Maulevrier to me.'

Mary went down to the billiard room, where she found her brother and her
lover engaged in a hundred game.

'Take my cue and beat him if you can, Molly,' said Maulevrier, when he
had heard Mary's message. 'I'm fifteen ahead of him, for he has been
falling asleep over his shots. I suppose I am going to get a lecture.'

'I don't think so,' said Mary.

'Well, my dearest, how did you fare in the encounter?' asked Hammond,
directly Maulevrier was gone.

'Oh, it was dreadful! I made the most rebellious speeches to poor
grandmother, and then I remembered her affliction, and I asked her to
forgive me, and just at the last she was ever so much kinder, and I
think that she will let me marry you, now she knows I have made up my
mind to be your wife--in spite of Fate.'

'My bravest and best.'

'And do you know, Jack'--she blushed tremendously as she uttered this
familiar name--'I have made a discovery!'

'Indeed!'

'I find that I am to have five hundred a year when I am married. It is
not much. But I suppose it will help, won't it? We can't exactly starve
if we have five hundred a year. Let me see. It is more than a pound a
day. A sovereign ought to go a long way in a small house; and, of
course, we shall begin in a very wee house, like De Quincey's cottage
over there, only in London.'

'Yes, dear, there are plenty of such cottages in London. In Mayfair, for
instance, or Belgravia.'

'Now, you are laughing at my rustic ignorance. But the five hundred
pounds will be a help, won't it?'

'Yes, dear, a great help.'

'I'm so glad.'

She had chalked her cue while she was talking, but after taking her aim,
she dropped her arm irresolutely.

'Do you know I'm afraid I can't play to-night,' she said.

'Helvellyn and the fog and the wind have quite spoilt my nerve. Shall we
go to the drawing-room, and see if Fraeulein has recovered from her
gloomy fit?'

'I would rather stay here, where we are free to talk; but I'll do
whatever you like best.'

Mary preferred the drawing-room. It was very sweet to be alone with her
love