He went to Grandison Square the following afternoon as if to seek a corrective; and once in her presence marvelled at his own weakness. Here was the woman, as somebody says, for him to go picnicking through the world with. Not that the time had arrived just yet. Mark was not without a sturdy independence. Besides, there would be Colonel Faversham to deal with. As soon as he had made a beginning in his profession, then would be the time to ask Carrissima to share his lot. "Well, did you see Bridget?" she asked. "Oh yes," said Mark. "If you appointed yourself her father-confessor she must have been a wee bit surprised." "The surprise was on my side," said Mark. "What about?" demanded Carrissima. "The state of her finances. All she has in the world is the remnant of two or three thousand pounds she inherited from her mother. Rosser left her nothing, and she is calmly spending her capital." "But why," suggested Carrissima, "should she go out of her way to enlighten you about her income?" "Anyhow," was the answer, "the time is bound to come when she won't possess one." "What does she propose to do in that case?" said Carrissima. "At present her dressmaker's bill must be rather extravagant, and I wish I could buy such hats! I suppose," Carrissima added, "that marriage is to be the way out of her difficulty." "At least," replied Mark, "you may console yourself that nothing is settled at the moment." "How do you know?" asked Carrissima hastily. "You may accept it as a fact," he insisted. "Undoubtedly," she retorted, "your conversation must have taken an extraordinary turn last night. Mark, you are rather tantalizing. It is so evident that you are only favouring me with elegant extracts." "Oh well, I don't want to give the girl away," he said. "And look here, Carrissima, I don't want you to drop upon her too heavily." "Is that a custom of mine?" she exclaimed. "As if I want to drop upon her at all! Frankly, I like Bridget. You see, we are in agreement so far. Or rather, I should like her if she would let the foolish colonel go. Oh dear, I really ought not to talk in this way!" "Upon my word," said Mark, "I believe she scarcely realizes what she is doing." "Then you admit she is doing it!" "A kind of youthful irresponsibility," he returned. "That accounts for everything." "You seem to forget she is older than I am," said Carrissima. He laughed as he looked down at her small figure, and if he had not by any means succeeded in relieving her dismal anticipations concerning Colonel Faversham, he had to a certain degree caused her to feel easier about his own future. Flattering herself that she had now a firm grip of the situation, Carrissima began to marvel that a man of her father's long experience could remain blind to the facts of the case. "Father," she said, alone with him after dinner the same evening, "I heard some rather astonishing news this afternoon."