"That would have been the sane, sound, immediate course to adopt. With a grain of gumption you'd both instantly have felt it. I should have found a way to take you, you know, if I'd been what Owen's supposed to be. I should have got the business over first; the rest could come when you liked! Good God, girl, your place was to stand before me as a woman honestly married. One doesn't know what one has hold of in touching you, and you must excuse my saying that you're literally unpleasant to me to meet as you are. Then at least we could have talked, and Owen, if he had the ghost of a sense of humor, could have snapped his fingers at your refinements." "So much that they're all, and that she can let everything else absolutely depend upon them?"!

At this our young lady smiled. "Yes, because it was a disappointment. She had been so sure." CHAPTER XIV

"Of course you know by this time that your mother's very sharp," said Fleda. "The case," said Fleda coldly, "is as I've had the honor to state it." "If you'll go for him yourself, I'll wait here," said Fleda.