"My engagement has happened!" he cried out to her. "You stupid dear, do you need to be told?"

She had indeed needed to be told: the surprise was complete and overwhelming. She sat silent under it, her hands trembling in his, till the blood mounted to his face and she felt his confident grasp relax. "You didn't guess it, then?" he exclaimed, starting up and moving away from her.

"No; I did n't guess it," she confessed in a dead-level voice.

He stood above her, half challenging, half defensive. "And you have n't a word to say to me? Mother!" he adjured her.

She rose too, putting her arms about him with a kiss. "Dick! Dear Dick!" she murmured.

"She imagines you don't like her; she