es the arrangement a still more comfortable one; but I have
always said that my children must marry whom they would; and I should
have welcomed you, my dear Howard, as a son-in-law, under any
circumstances."

Jack, on the contrary, was rather more cautious in his congratulations.
"I am all for things being fixed up as people like," he said, "and I am
sure it's a good match for Maud, and all that. But I can't put the two
ends together. I never supposed that you would fall in love, any more
than that my father would marry again; and when it comes to your
falling in love with Maud--well, if you knew that girl as I do, you
would think twice! I can't conceive what you will ever have to talk
about, unless you make her do essays. It is really rather embarrassing
to have a Don for a brother-in-law. I feel as if I should have to say
'we' when I talked to the other Dons, and I shall be regarded with
suspicion by the rest of the men. But of course you have my blessing,
if you will do it; though if you like to cry off, even now, I will try
to keep the peace. I feel rather an ass to have said that about Fred
Guthrie; but of course he is hard hit, and I can't think how I shall
ever be able to look him in the face. What bothers me is that I never
saw how things were going. Well, may it be long before I find myself in
the same position! But you are welcome to Missy, if you think you can
make anything of her."

Mrs. Graves did little more than express her delight. "It was what I
somehow hoped from the first for both of you," she said.

"Well," said Howard, "the only thing that puzzles me is that when you
saw--yes, I am sure you saw--what was happening, you didn't make a
sign."

"No," said Mrs. Graves, "that is just what one can't do! I didn't doubt
that it would come right, I guessed what Maud felt; but you had to find
the way to her yourself. I was sure of Maud, you see; but I was not
quite sure of you. It does not do to try experiments, dear Howard, with
forces as strong as love; I knew that if I told you how things stood,
you would have felt bound out of courtesy and kindness to speak, and
that would have been no good. If it is illegal to help a man to commit
suicide, it is worse, it is wicked to push a man into marriage; but I
am a very happy woman now--so happy that I am almost afraid."

Howard talked over his plans with Mrs. Graves; there seemed no sort of
reason to defer his wedding. He told her, too, that he had a further