"Miss Eva always looks jolly," I said shortly. I did not want to talk to the old lady. "Mr. Todd appears to think so too," she went on with a nod and a knowing look at me. Evidently she was playing Todd against Highrank. "Mr. David Todd, Jr.?" I asked languidly: "he has thirty thousand a year, hasn't he?" She looked at me sharply for an instant, then smiled and said, "How should I know, dear Mr. Highrank? It is his rare personal merit that pleases me. I own I am happy to see him so attentive to the child for her sake. She is so impulsive and innocent, so likely to fancy a younger, more dashing kind of man"--here she glanced at me--"that I acknowledge I do feel anxious to have her settled happily. Not but that some young men are exceptions," she continued amiably, "and make excellent husbands." "There are two classes of men," I remarked quietly. "They can be divided into those who make good husbands and those who don't. Wealthy men are the most superior, and are best fitted to fill the situation." "I agree with you entirely: you are a very sensible young man," enthusiastically replied the old lady, not recognizing the quotation. We talked on until Eva came back: then I claimed the next waltz, and decided I would carry her off from Todd. I pressed her hand, but she would not respond: it was plain she was obeying orders. "Won't you walk with me?" I whispered as we were near an open window in a pause of the dance. "I can't, Charley--indeed I can't," as I tried to draw her outside: "I will explain another time." "You are very cruel," I continued in the same undertone. "You don't care if I am," she said a little bitterly. "As if I do not care when you use me badly! Won't you tell me what is the matter?" I asked tenderly. "Oh, Mr. Highrank, I am so unhappy!" she whispered. "Why so, my dear?" No one could help calling Eva "my dear"; besides, we were hidden by the heavy window curtain and no one overheard us. "I--I--am going to be married," she said. "It appears to me that ought to make you particularly merry, oughtn't it?" "But it don't," she answered, sighing. "Why not, you foolish girl?" "Oh, everything is so different from what I expected." "In what way?" "W-h-y," she answered slowly, "I thought it would be romantic, and that he would ask me in the moonlight." "Like to-night, for instance?" I said, taking her hand and drawing her through the low window on to the piazza. "Yes," she replied, "and instead of that--" "Well, instead of that?" I repeated, seeing she paused. "Instead of that, it was in that old parlor of ours. I have never had a nice time since we took it two weeks ago, odious green place! I detest green furniture; it is so unbecoming," she said pathetically. "And who is the happy dog--I mean gentleman'--Eva? I may call you Eva, just for this evening yet, mayn't I?" "I don't care if--if--Oh my! what a name! Charley, did you ever hear such a dreadful name as David?"