"Eliza, if without disturbing them, you know, dear, do you think you could give them to understand that dinner is ready?" she whispered. Aunt Eliza nodded her head. "What shall I do?" she said. "Knock at the door, or cough?" "To knock would be too marked, I think," answered Aunt Margaret. "I should just give a little cough, or a gentle sneeze outside." It is all very well to be told to sneeze when you do not want to do so, but it is almost an impossibility. Miss Eliza, however, proceeded to the dining-room door and tried to do her best. She, in fact, emitted a most extraordinary sound which was intended to represent a sneeze. But at all events it had the intended effect. The lovers started apart as if they had been shot. "What is that?" said May. "Sounds as if someone was choking outside," answered John; "shall I see what it is?" He accordingly opened the door, and there stood poor Aunt Eliza in the very act of preparing to attempt to sneeze again! "Miss Eliza," said John, warmly grasping her hand, "and how are you?" For a few moments Miss Eliza could make no answer. She gasped for breath; she struggled to regain her ordinary expression. "And how is Miss Webster?" went on John, kindly. "I am very pleased indeed to see you both again, and thank you very much for taking such care of my dear little girl." He looked back at May tenderly as he spoke, and May smiled and went forward. By this time Miss Eliza had partly recovered her speech. "My dear," she said, addressing May in a slightly choking voice, "if--if Mr. John Temple--is ready--dinner is." And then a violent fit of coughing interrupted her utterance. "John, you have forgotten to take off your overcoat!" said May, with a little laugh. "So I have," answered John, going out into the hall to remove it; and when he went back into the room he once more shook Miss Eliza's kind hand. "She looks very well," he said, with a smile, and a glance at May. "Sweetly pretty," answered Miss Eliza, with a little gentle sigh. Then presently Miss Webster appeared, followed by her parlor maid, with the dinner. Everything was well cooked, to Miss Webster's great satisfaction, and John Temple did fair justice to her good things. May, however, could not eat. "I am too happy," she was thinking, as time after time she raised her eyes shyly to John's good-looking face. Then, when dinner was over and the ladies were about to retire to the drawing-room, John laid a detaining hand on Miss Webster's arm. "Can I have a few words alone with you?" he said. "Oh! yes, certainly," answered Miss Webster, nervously. By this time Aunt Eliza and May Churchill had left the room, for they also had heard John Temple's request, and Miss Webster having resumed her chair, John drew his close to her. "It's about May Churchill, Miss Webster, that I want to speak to you," he began. "I do not know whether you have guessed the truth, but May and I are engaged, and are going to be married immediately."