it. And there is something else. If I may I should
like to tell you how I have admired you for your steady facing of each
day's routine. There is no heroism in the world, Miss Georgiana, equal
to that, to my thinking."

She shook her head. "I'm not heroic; please don't tell me I am."

"But you are, and I must tell you so. Why not? I have seen more than you
may have realized. My whole life's training has been in the line of
observation of other human beings. And you must know that no one could
be with you and not understand that the fires of longing to live and
live strongly and vitally burn in you with more than ordinary
fierceness. Yet you subdue them every day for the sake of the one who
needs you. That is real heroism, and the sight of it has touched me very
much."

Suddenly she found herself struggling to keep back the choking in her
throat. How well he had understood her--and what unsuspected depths of
tenderness there were in his rich and quiet voice. She could not speak
for a little, and he stood beside her in a comprehending silence.

"I can't go away," he said presently, "without telling you that your
happiness has come to seem very important to me. I have--necessarily--a
fairly wide knowledge of men, their characters, their motives, their
ideals--or their lack of them. Miss Georgiana, when you come to
choose--will you let me say it?--don't be misled by superficial
attributes, even the most attractive. Don't let the desire to have your
horizon apparently expanded, to go far and see much and live intensely,
overbalance your appreciation of fine and lasting qualities in one who
could give you little excitement but much that is real and worth having.
It may be very daring in me to say this to you, but I find myself
impelled to it. I want you to live, and live gloriously, and find
employment for every one of your splendid energies, and there is only
one being in the world who can help you do that--the man whom you can
respect as well as love, and love as well as respect. Will you promise
me to choose him and nobody else?"

She turned suddenly and fiercely upon him. "How can you think I----" She
stopped short, her eyes blazing in the darkness.

"I can foresee," said he, very gently, "an hour for you when you will be
tempted out of your senses to do the thing which promises change, any
change. You are starving for it; you are desperate with longing for
it----"

"Mr. Jefferson----"

"Miles Channing came int