l."

"In this case," I quietly observed, "his will seems to be most
kindly."

"That is the worst of it," chafed Orrin. "If only he offered me
opposition I could struggle with him. But it is his generosity I hate,
and the humiliating position into which it thrusts me. And that is not
all," he angrily added, while still striding feverishly about the
room. "The Colonel seems to think us his property ever since we
decided to accept his, and as a miser watches over his gold so does
he watch over us, till I scarcely have the opportunity now of speaking
to Juliet alone. If I go to her house, there he is sitting like a
black statue at the fireplace, and when I would protest, and lead her
into another room or into the garden, he rises and overwhelms me with
such courtesies and subtle disquisitions that I am tripped up in my
endeavors, and do not know how to leave or how to stay. I wish he
would fall sick, or his house tumble about his head!"

"Orrin, Orrin!" I cried. But he interrupted my remonstrance with the
words:

"It is not decent. I am her affianced husband now, and he should leave
us alone. Does he think I can ever forget that he used to court her
once himself, and that the favors she now shows me were once given as
freely, if not as honestly, to him? He knows I cannot forget, and he
delights--"

"There, Orrin," I broke in, "you do him wrong. The Colonel is above
your comprehension as he is above mine; but there is nothing
malevolent in him."

"I don't know about that," rejoined his angry rival. "If he wanted to
steal back my bride he could take no surer course for doing it.
Juliet, who is fickle as the wind, already looks from his face to mine
as if she were contrasting us. And he is so damned handsome and suave
and self-forgetting!"

"And you," I could not help but say, "are so fierce and sullen even in
your love."

"I know it," was his half-muttered retort, "but what can you expect?
Do you think I will see him steal her heart away from before my eyes?"

"It would be but a natural return on his part for your former
courtesies," I could not forbear saying, in my own secret chagrin and
soreness of heart.

"But he shall not do it," exclaimed Orrin, with a backward toss of his
head, and a sudden thump of his strong hand on the table before me. "I
won her once against all odds, and I will keep her if I have to don
the devil's smiles myself. He shall never again see her eyes rest
longer on his face than mine. I