“Oh, Ross, my good, kind Ross!” and she clasped her arms around his neck in passionate, longing regret, “if I might tell you all—­if I might!”

“Tell me nothing, dear, you would rather keep.  I am infinitely content to even have you thus, and know you love me somewhat.  Yes, I know, sweet,” he said with a sad smile as she kissed his hand in passionate regret—­“the very best you can, with all the heart you have.  I know, I know!”

Quite late in the evening, Sheldon Wilber came.  After sitting an hour or so, talking gayly, he rose to go.  When they were standing he said, “Percy, I had just left the Flemmings before I came in here.”

“Had you?  I hope they are all well, especially Miss Lizzie, who is so pretty.”

“They’re all well enough.  She—­Miss Lizzie the pretty—­is going to be married.”

“To be married!—­to whom?” she asked.

“To my honorable self:  don’t you congratulate her?”—­with a bitter laugh.  “I asked her to-night if she’d have me, and she said ‘Yes.’”

“I am so glad, Sheldon—­so very glad!” and she held out her hand.

“Are you?  It’s more than anyone else is but my mother.  Well, no—­I suppose the Flemmings are, to get another daughter off their hands, and she to have a safe man to pay her bills.  And of course all our cousins and sisters will be glad to have another house to dance the German in; so it is rather a jubilee occasion, taking it all in all.”

“Oh, Sheldon, how hard and bitter you are!  She loves you, I know, and the rest think you will be happier with a good wife to care for.”

“Yes, the wife I cared for would have made me supremely happy, but vive la bagatelle! I want to know when I am to tie this knot?”

“Whenever she wishes, of course,” she answered.

“By the Lord, no!  If she gets me, she’s got to take me when I choose.”

Percy went up to him and put her hands in his:  “She’ll be a good wife, and, dear Sheldon, you’ll be a good husband to her.”

He looked at her curiously, then answered, “I’ll try:  I’ll begin by letting her set the hanging—­no, I mean the wedding—­day.  Norval, I know you’ll be good to our little girl—­better, likely as not, than the rest of us would have been had we got possession of her.  Only remember, old fellow, the shadows must never come to her through you, or some of us will make a shadow of you.  Would you mind my coming around sometimes to see the little woman?  If you’ll let me come and spend an evening now and then with you both, it will keep me from getting utterly down-hearted, and maybe will make me a better husband to the future Mrs. Sheldon Wilber.  I’ll never come without sending word to know if I may.”  And the poor fellow took himself away.

“How they love you, dear!  It’s strange you took me, and I thought I was conferring a favor on you!  I’m ashamed to remember it now, but it was so.”

“Yes, I know”—­and she laughed—­“but it’s not strange, Ross.  Any woman would have chosen you:  I have always heard of your successes with women.  And you know it was take or lose when you gave me my chance.  I had but one choice; it was not likely you would drop your handkerchief before me a second time; so I took you quick, before some other woman caught you.”