e, I
can tell you. All your own way, and no nagging. You know what _I_ am,
a cheery fellow, never put out by anything. Now, what do you say?"

"Are you asking me to marry you?" said Beth, breaking into a smile.
The position struck her as comical rather than serious.

"Why, what else?" he replied, smiling also. "I see you are recovering
your spirits. You'll be as happy as the day is long when we're
married. You'd never get on with anybody else as you'd do with me. I
don't think anybody else would understand you."

Beth laughed. She liked him, and she liked to be caressed. Why not
marry him and be independent of every one? She hadn't the slightest
objection at the moment; far from it, for she saw in the offer the one
means of escape she was likely to have from the long dull dreary
days, and the loneliness, which was all the life she could have to
look forward to when he had gone. And he was good-looking, too, and
nice--everybody said so. Besides, they would all be pleased if she
accepted him, her mother especially so. Now that she came to think of
it, she perceived that this was what they had been suggesting to her
ever since her return.

"It is settled then?" he said, stooping forward to look into her face.

She looked at him shyly and laughed again. For the life of her she
could not keep her countenance, although she felt she was behaving in
the silly, giggling-girl sort of way she so much despised.

"That's all right," he exclaimed, looking extremely well pleased; and
at that moment Mrs. Caldwell walked into the room, just in time to
witness a lover-like caress. Beth jumped up, covered with confusion.
Mrs. Caldwell looked from one to the other, and waited for an
explanation.

"We've just come to the conclusion that we cannot live apart," Dan
said deliberately, rising at the same time and taking Beth's hand.

"My dear child!" Mrs. Caldwell exclaimed, embracing Beth with happy
tears in her eyes. "This _is_ a joy! I _do_ congratulate you."

Beth became suddenly serious. The aspect of the affair had changed. It
was no longer a game of the moment, but a settled business, already
irrevocable. She wanted to explain that she had not actually pledged
herself, that she must take time to consider; but her heart failed her
in view of her mother's delight. It was Beth's great weakness that, as
a rule, she could neither spoil pleasure nor give pain to save herself
in an emergency.

CHAPTER XXXVI

When Dan came