'Oh, but that will not do! You must tell me your own private opinion. I know you like Cyril--you have always spoken well of him; but are you sure that in your heart you thoroughly approve my choice?' She was pressing him close, but he did not flinch; he only turned to her rather gravely. 'My dear Audrey, there are limits even to Mentor's privileges. When two people make up their minds to take each other for better, for worse, no third person has a right to give an opinion. I know little of Mr. Blake, but I have already a respect for him. I am perfectly sure that in time we shall be good friends.' 'I hope so--I hope so from my heart!' she returned earnestly. 'You are very guarded, Michael; and, though you are too kind to say so, I know you think I have acted rather hastily. Perhaps you would rather I had waited a little longer; but Cyril was so unhappy, and I--well, I was not quite comfortable myself. It is so much nicer to have it all settled.' 'Yes, I see.' 'And now everything is just perfect. Oh, Michael, you must not go away for a long time! I cannot do without you.' 'I hope you don't expect me to believe that?' 'But it is perfectly true, I assure you. Actually, Cyril pretended to be jealous to-day, because I could think of nothing but your coming home. He was only teasing me; for of course he understands what we feel for each other. If you were my own brother, Michael, I could not want you more. But that is the best of Cyril; he is really so unselfish--almost as unselfish as you.' 'My dear child,' returned Michael lazily, 'did you ever hear of a certain philosopher named Diogenes, and how he set off one day, lamp in hand, to search through the city for an honest man? Really, your remark makes me inclined to light my own private farthing dip, and look for this curious anomaly, an unselfish man.' 'You would not have to go far,' she returned innocently. 'There are two of them in Rutherford at the present moment.' But he only shook his head and laughed at this guileless flattery, and at that moment, to his relief, Dr. Ross came into the room. But as he took his place at the dinner-table he had a curious sensation, as though he had been racked; and, though he laughed and talked, he had an odd feeling all the time as though he were not quite sure of his own identity; and all that evening a few words that Audrey had said haunted him like a refrain: 'If you were my own brother, Michael, I could not want you more--if you were my own brother I could not want you more!' CHAPTER XXVIII MICHAEL TURNS OVER A NEW LEAF 'My privilege is to be the spectator of my own life-drama, to be fully conscious of the tragi-comedy of my own destiny; and, more than that, to be in the secret of the tragi-comic itself. * * * * *