"Oh, but I think it does," said Montrose hopefully. "I don't see what else he could say if he entertains at all the idea of my marrying you. It is only natural that he should wish to know what kind of a husband I am likely to be to his adored daughter." "Oh!" said Alice ironically, "does my father call me that?" "Twice he calls you that in his letter." "He doesn't mean it," the girl assured Montrose in a troubled way; "my father and I endure one another's society, but little love exists between us. The fault isn't mine, Douglas, as I was willing enough to love him when I came from school. But father has always kept me at arm's length, and hitherto my life has been loveless--save for Julian." "Julian!" There was a jealous note in the young man's voice. "That is the name of Mrs. Barrast's brother, is it not?" "Yes. I call him Julian and he calls me Alice." "Confound his impudence!" fumed Montrose angrily. "No impudence at all, Douglas. Julian is my very good friend: nothing more, I assure you. But if I had not met you, and if my father had insisted upon my becoming Don Pablo's wife, I should have married Julian." "Oh, Alice," in a tone of deep reproach, "do you love him and not me?" "No. I respect him. If I loved him you would not now be sitting beside me." Still Montrose was not satisfied. "Is he good-looking?" "Very; in a large stolid Anglo-Saxon way. He's an artist, but I don't think one would call him clever except as a painter of pictures." "I see that you don't love him," said Douglas, his brow clearing; "but does Hardwick--that is his name, isn't it?--love you?" "No," rejoined Alice promptly, "he thought that he did, but he really does not in the way a woman wants to be loved. He proposed and I rejected him on those grounds. Now he understands that I am right, and we have settled to be great friends." "All the same you said you would have married him if----" "If my father had insisted on my becoming the wife of Don Pablo," interrupted Alice swiftly. "Can't you understand, Douglas? I detest this Spaniard, who is such a friend of my father, and of two evils I was prepared to choose the lesser. I did not want to marry Julian any more than I wanted to marry Don Pablo. But Julian is at least human, so----" "Isn't Don Pablo human?" asked Montrose, interrupting in his turn. "I don't believe he is," said Alice thoughtfully, "there is something dreadfully wicked about him. I can't explain, but when you meet him you will in some way guess my meaning." "Humph! I shall certainly accept your father's invitation both to see this Spaniard and Hardwick also." "And you understand my position?" urged Alice anxiously. "Yes. I think I do. All the same I want you to assure me positively that you love no one else but me." "There is no need to tell you what you already know," returned the girl in a calm positive way. "We are made for one another!" "Darling!" he caught her in his arms, "I know. But I hope your father will think as we do."