“Well, I have not an unkind word either, Mr. McNeil, so that ought to count for something, I think,” and she stooped to pick up some paper from the floor, “but I think you deserve a good many for the ridiculous mistake you made when you came in.”

“I made no mistake, except that of thinking the room held no one but yourself.  Give me a chance to prove it, Dexie.”

Dexie pretended not to hear, but turned the conversation by saying: 

“I have not congratulated you on the good fortune you have met while we were away.”

“Well!  I think it is time you did,” Gussie answered, awake to the fact that a low conversation was being held near her.  “I am sure it is no everyday affair to fall heir to a fortune.  Weren’t you surprised when I wrote to you about it?”

“Yes, very,” and the memory of the letter brought a smile with it.  “And if the possession of money means happiness, I presume Mr. McNeil feels raised to the seventh heaven of bliss.”

“Not yet, Dexie, but I am looking forward to the ‘seventh heaven’ you speak of.”

“Mrs. Gurney mentioned that you thought of going abroad.  I hope Lancy’s absence has not interfered with your plans, Mr. McNeil?” and she made a move to ascend the stairs.

“Would you like to go abroad, Dexie?”

There was an eagerness in his tone that Dexie did not understand, so she answered: 

“Well, if going abroad means a visit to Great Britain, I say no, most decidedly!  What do I care for the English, Scotch or Irish—­as a race, I mean?  My definition of the term abroad is, a tour through Europe, ending with Egypt and the Holy Land, and farther still if the pocket-book held out.”

“Dexie, will you go abroad with me?”

Gussie looked from Hugh to Dexie in open-eyed surprise.  This invitation might mean much or little.

“Why, Hugh, it would be improper for Dexie to accept such an invitation,” she hastily said.

“There would be nothing improper about it, if she went as my wife.”

“You are carrying your jokes too far, Mr. McNeil,” said Dexie, coldly.  “If you want to turn Mormon you had better ‘go West, young man,’ for when I go on my wedding tour I want a husband who will be content with one wife, and, when he and I go abroad, we will go alone.  No offence meant; but two is company, while three is a crowd.  So good-night to you both,” and she turned and ran up the stairs, leaving Hugh looking after her with a beating heart.

“Well, I hope I have been plain enough this time,” was her inward comment.  “Can he really care for Gussie and expect to marry her, as she thinks, or does he want to turn Mormon and marry the both of us?  But whatever he has said to Gussie don’t count, so long as he makes eyes at me.  I’m willing to be pleasant and agreeable, if he is to be my brother-in-law; but he shall not call me ‘his darling’ and ‘his love,’ as if it were me he was engaged to.  I wish I had slapped his face for him.”