“For a week after receiving this letter I fought a terrible battle with myself. I could not endure the thought of that delicate girl going out in the world to toil for the bread she ate. On the other hand, if I yielded to my own desire, and asked her to marry me, it would doom her to a life of hardship almost as severe, for I could only make over my share of Uncle Jabez’s fortune to my cousin at a sacrifice that would leave me almost a beggar. I could not force a sale of mining interests without losing nearly all that I had made during the last three years. I was nearly distracted, and I imagined a thousand evils and dangers that might result from Annie becoming a governess. Not only would such a life be a burdensome and disagreeable one, but, worse than that, she was liable to meet some one who would be attracted by her beauty and sweetness—some one who would win her, and thus I should lose her. “The thought was unbearable, and I resolved upon a desperate measure. I wrote again to her, confessing my love—that I had always loved her, and begging her to come to me and share my life in the West. I told her that I would gladly give up fortune—everything—if she would become my wife; and I meant to, by another year, or as soon as I could sell to advantage. I told her, also, that I could not come on for her, as my interests at the mines would not admit of my being absent long enough for that, but I would meet her at Kansas City, Missouri, where we would be immediately married, and then proceed to our simple home among the mountains of Mew Mexico. I begged her not to say anything to any one where she was going until after our marriage, when I preferred to announce the fact myself. I sent her a route carefully mapped out, and a check ample for all her needs, begging her to telegraph me the day and the hour that she would start. You have the telegram she sent in reply there,” Colonel Mapleson said, turning to Geoffrey, and glancing at the package which still lay on the table beside him. “I have always kept that precious bit of paper,” he resumed, “for its contents made me almost wild with joy when I received it. I set out immediately to join my dear one, reaching Kansas City only a few hours previous to her own arrival. I had everything arranged, however, and we drove directly from the station to the house of a prominent clergyman of the city, where we were married in the presence of his household, and three hours later we were on our way to New Mexico.