“Will you love me, Sybilla?”

She struggled silently, desperately.

“Will you?”

“No....  Let me go——­”

“Don’t cry—­please, dear—­” His head, bowed beside hers over their clasped hands, was more than she could endure; but her upflung face, seeking escape, encountered his.  There was a deep, indrawn breath, a sob, and she lay, crying her heart out, in his arms.

* * * * *

“Darling!”

“W-what?”

It is curious how quickly one recognizes unfamiliar forms of address.

“You won’t cry any more, will you?” he whispered.

“N-n-o,” sighed Sybilla.

“Because we do love each other, don’t we?”

“Y-yes, George.”  Then, radiant, yet sweetly shamed, confident, yet fearful, she lifted her adorable head from his shoulder.

“George,” she said, “I am beginning to think that I’d like to get off this table.”

“You poor darling!”

“And,” she continued, “if you will go home and change your overalls for something more conventional, you shall come and dine with us this evening, and I will be waiting for you in the drawing-room....  And, George, although some of your troubles are now over——­”

“All of them, dearest!” he cried with enthusiasm.

“No,” she said tenderly, “you are yet to meet Pa-pah.”

[Illustration]

XIV

GENTLEMEN OF THE PRESS

A Chapter Concerning Drusilla, Pa-pah and a Minion

Capital had now been furnished for The Green Mouse, Limited; a great central station of white marble was being built, facing Madison Avenue and occupying the entire block front between Eighty-second and Eighty-third streets.

The building promised to be magnificent; the plans provided for a thousand private operating rooms, each beautifully furnished in Louis XVI style, a restaurant, a tea room, a marriage licence bureau, and an emergency chapel where first aid clergymen were to be always in attendance.

In each of the thousand Louis XVI operating rooms a Destyn-Carr wireless instrument was to stand upon a rococo table.  A maid to every two rooms, a physician to every ten, and smelling salts to each room, were provided for in this gigantic enterprise.

Millions of circulars were being prepared to send broadcast over the United States.  They read as follows: 

ARE YOU IN LOVE?  IF NOT, WHY NOT?

Wedlock by Wireless.  Marriage by Machinery.  A Wondrous Wooer Without
Words!  No more doubt; no more hesitation; no more uncertainty.  The
Destyn-Carr Wireless Apparatus does it all for you.  Happy Marriage
Guaranteed or money eagerly refunded!

Psychical Science says that for every man and woman on earth there is a predestined mate!

That mate can be discovered for you by The Green Mouse, Limited.