?"

"Helped me most!--how do you mean?"

"Well, helped you to be upright, you know, to make good resolutions
and keep straight."

"Thank you," he said; "I have not felt the need of good resolutions,
and this is the first hint I have had that I require any. If you will
inquire among my friends, I fancy you will find that I have the credit
of going pretty straight as it is."

"O Dan!" Beth exclaimed, "you quite misunderstand me. I never meant to
insinuate that you are not straight. I was only thinking of the way in
which we all fall short of our ideals."

"Ideals be hanged!" said Dan. "If a man does his duty, that's ideal
enough, isn't it?"

"I should think so," Beth said pacifically.

Dan went to the mantelpiece, and stood there, studying himself with
interest in the glass. "A lady told me the other day I looked like a
military man," he said, smoothing his glossy black hair and twisting
the ends of his long moustache.

"Well, I think you look much more military than medical," Beth
replied, considering him.

"I'm glad of that," he said, smiling at himself complacently.

"Are you?" Beth exclaimed in surprise. "Why? A medical man has a finer
career than a military man, and should have a finer presence if
ability, purpose, and character count for anything towards
appearance. Personally I think I should wish to look like what I am,
if I could choose."

"So you do," he rejoined, adjusting his hat with precision as he
spoke, and craning his neck to see himself sideways in the glass. "You
look like a silly little idiot. But never mind. That's all a girl need
be if she's pretty; and if she isn't pretty, she's of no account, so
it doesn't matter what she is."

When he had gone, Beth sat for a long time thinking; but she did no
more reading that day, nor did she ever again consult Dan about the
choice of books, or expect him to sympathise with her in her work.

For the first few months of her married life, she had no pocket-money
at all. Aunt Grace Mary slipped two sovereigns into her hand when they
parted, but these Beth kept, she hardly knew why, as she had her
half-year's dividend to look forward to. About the time that her money
was due, Dan began to talk incessantly of money difficulties. Bills
were pressing, and he did not know where on earth to look for a
five-pound-note. He did not think Beth too young to be worried
morning, noon, and night on the subject, although she took it very
seriously. One morning a