"Do you, Peggy? I don't agree with you there; but if it is so, is not that all the more reason why you should do me a good turn now? I don't mind your blaming yourself, dear, if it makes you the more inclined to be generous. I have loved you ever since we met, and it would be impossible to part from you now. I need you, Peggy; come to me! Be my wife, and give me the happiness of having you always beside me." He spoke with a whole-hearted earnestness which brought the tears into Peggy's eyes, but she shook her head none the less firmly. "I can't! I can't! It would be doing you a worse injury than the first. I should be no help to you, Hector, for I don't care for you in the way you mean, and I could never marry a man unless I loved him with all my heart. It is all a mistake--indeed it is. You only imagine that you care for me because you have seen a great deal of me lately, and I seem part of home and the old life. When you have gone back to India, you will forget all about me, or be glad that I did not take you at your word." Hector pressed his lips together and gave a strained attempt at a smile. "I am not a boy, Peggy. I know what I want, but you--you are so young, how can you be sure of yourself yet? I am not going to take `No' for an answer. I will wait--ask for an extension of leave--come home for you later on. You shall have time, plenty of time, but I will not let you decide at once. You don't know your own mind!" "Oh, Hector!" Even at that critical moment a gleam of fun twinkled in Peggy's eyes. "Oh, Hector, how can you? No one has ever accused me before of not knowing my own mind. I know it only too well, and I will not let you wait on, to gain nothing but a second disappointment. I should not change, and listen, Hector--it would be a bad thing if I did! I like you very much--far, far better than I ever believed I could do when we first met, for you seemed so different then, so haughty and self-satisfied, that if you had not been Rob's brother I should have disliked you outright. I see now that I judged you too quickly, but there is still so much difference between us that we should never be happy together. You are a man of the world, and like to live in the world, and conform to its ways, and at heart I am nothing but a Bohemian. I have no respect for the rules and regulations of Society, and the only feeling they arouse in me is a desperate desire to break through them and shock Mrs Grundy. I am erratic, and careless, and forgetful. I am ashamed of it, and honestly mean to improve, but, oh, poor Hector, how you would suffer if you had to put up with me during the process! You ought to marry a clever woman who would keep your house as you would like it kept, and help you on by her gracious ways, not a madcap girl who has not learned to manage herself, much less other people. Dear Hector, I thank you with all my heart for thinking so kindly of me and paying me such an honour, but, indeed, indeed, it