“I am greatly surprised that you know him, and like him so well,” cried Jess, impatiently. “I like him so well I have asked him to visit us at my country seat to which I am going next week, bearing you with me. He was more than surprised to hear that you were coming to New York to visit me, of all people, and accepted the invitation by return mail. “I suppose I am telling tales out of school when I also tell you that the dear fellow was well-nigh heartbroken because you had bound those whom you left behind you with a solemn promise not to divulge to him your destination. Strange how he found it out, wasn’t it?” Jess had sprung to her feet trembling like a leaf. “I cannot see him, indeed I cannot, Queenie,” she cried in an agitated voice, “and I assure you, oh, so earnestly, that the marriage can never, never take place!” “Fie, fie!” cried Queenie, “I will not listen to anything like that. You have taken an aversion to him, but that is certain to wear off when you know him better. You know, dear, that there is a whole world of truth in the old saying that ‘the course of true love never does run smooth.’ You are sure to have your little differences at first--love tiffs, as some call them--but it will all come out all right in the end. I am sure you are too sensible a girl, Jess, to want to back out now, after your _fiancé_ has made every arrangement for his wedding with you. It would be the height of impropriety, dear.” “Will you believe me that I can never, never marry him now, Queenie?” whispered the girl, earnestly. “Do not let him come. I do not want to see him. I will not see him.” “Do not be so willful, Jess,” exclaimed her friend, gathering her arched brows into a decided frown. “I have asked him to come, and I cannot recall the invitation without hurting my old friend and playfellow to the very depths of his honest, loving heart. I could not be so cruel when you have no just cause to offer as to why you do not wish to meet him again, save a prejudice which should not exist. Surely you cannot find so much fault with him for loving you so devotedly; that is a trait to recommend, not one to blame. As you go through life, Jess, you will learn one of its greatest lessons, and that is, never to despise an honest, true love, for indeed there is little enough of it to be met with.” “All that you say is true from your point of view, Queenie,” returned the girl, in a distressed, husky voice, “but I repeat, I can never marry him now--never!” “You would rather see a splendid fortune flung to the winds!” said Queenie, impatiently, and with something very like a covert sneer in her voice. “Remember, if you throw him over, you make not only a beggar of yourself for life, but a beggar of him, and that you have no right to do.