Very good. Tell me one more thing, and I
have done. Take the mass of your educated,
accomplished, and lovely countrywomen, is it,
or is it not, the fact that a lady who has a
house in a fashionable quarter, a footman to
open her door, a butler to wait at her table,
and a carriage and horses to drive about in,
is a lady who has gained four steps, in female
estimation, at starting? Yes? or No?"

"Come to the point," said Vendale. "You
view this question as a question of terms. What
are your terms?"

"The lowest terms, dear sir, on which you can
provide your wife with those four steps at starting.
Double your present income—the most rigid
economy cannot do it in England on less. You
said just now that you expected greatly to
increase the value of your business. To work—
and increase it! I am a good devil after all!
On the day when you satisfy me, by plain proofs,
that your income has risen to three thousand a
year, ask me for my niece's hand, and it is
yours."

"May I inquire if you have mentioned this
arrangement to Miss Obenreizer?"

"Certainly. She has a last little morsel of
regard still left for me, Mr. Vendale, which is
not yours yet; and she accepts my terms. In
other words, she submits to be guided by her
guardian's regard for her welfare, and by her
guardian's superior knowledge of the world."
He threw himself back in his chair, in firm
reliance on his position, and in full
possession of his excellent temper.

Any open assertion of his own interests, in
the situation in which Vendale was now placed,
seemed to be (for the present at least)
hopeless. He found himself literally left with no
ground to stand on. Whether Obenreizer's
objections were the genuine product of
Obenreizer's own view of the case, or whether he
was simply delaying the marriage in the hope
of ultimately breaking it off altogether—in
either of these events, any present resistance
on Vendale's part would be equally useless.
There was no help for it but to yield, making
the best terms that he could on his own side.

"I protest against the conditions you impose
on me," he began.

"Naturally," said Obenreizer; "I dare say
I should protest, myself, in your place."

"Say, however," pursued Vendale, " that I
accept your terms. In that case, I must be
permitted to make two stipulations on my part.
In the first place, I shall expect to be allowed
to see your niece."

"Aha! to see my niece? and to make her in
as great a hurry to be married as you are
yourself? Suppose I say, No? you would see her
perhaps without my permission?"

"Decidedly!"

"How delightfully frank! How exquisitely
English! You shall see her, Mr. Vendale, on
certain days, which we will appoint together.
What next?"

"Your objection to my income," proceeded
Vendale, "has taken me completely by surprise.
I wish to be assured against any repetition of
that surprise. Your present views of my
qualification for marriage require me to have
an income of three thousand a year. Can I be
certain, in the future, as your experience of
England enlarges, that your estimate will rise
no higher?"

"In plain English," said Obenreizer, "you
doubt my word?"

"Do you purpose to take my word for it
when I inform you that I have doubled my
income?" asked Vendale. "If my memory does
not deceive me, you stipulated, a minute since,
for plain proofs?"

"Well played, Mr. Vendale! You combine
the foreign quickness with the English solidity.
Accept my best congratulations. Accept, also,
my written guarantee."

He rose; seated himself at a writing-desk at
a side-table, wrote a few lines, and presented
them to Vendale with a low bow. The
engagement was perfectly explicit, and was signed and
dated with scrupulous care.

"Are you satisfied with your guarantee?"

"I am satisfied."

"Charmed to hear it, I am sure. We have
had our little skirmish—we have really been
wonderfully clever on both sides. For the
present our affairs are settled. I bear no
malice. You bear no malice. Come, Mr.
Vendale, a good English shake hands."

Vendale gave his hand, a little bewildered
by Obenreizer's sudden transitions from one
humour to another.

"When may I expect to see Miss
Obenreizer again?" he asked, as he rose to go.

"Honour me with a visit to-morrow," said
Obenreizer, "and we will settle it then. Do
have a grog before you go! No? Well!
well! we will reserve the grog till you have
your three thousand a year, and are ready to be
married. Aha! When will that be?"

"I made an estimate, some months since, of
the capacities of my business," said Vendale.
"If that estimate is correct, I shall double my
present income——"

"And be married!" added Obenreizer.

"And be married," repeated Vendale, "within
a year from this time. Good night."

VENDALE MAKES MISCHIEF.

When Vendale entered his office the next
morning, the dull commercial routine at
Cripple Corner met him with a new face.
Marguerite had an interest in it now! The
whole machinery which Wilding's death had
set in motion, to realise the value of the
business the balancing of ledgers, the estimating
of debts, the taking of stock, and the rest of
it—was now transformed into machinery which
indicated the chances for and against a speedy
marriage. After looking over results, as
presented by his accountant, and checking
additions and subtractions, as rendered by
the clerks, Vendale turned his attention to
the stock-taking department next, and sent
a message to the cellars, desiring to see the
report.