"You have," declared Mr. Opp, earnestly; "that is, you will be. Everything is pending on you. There has been no steps whatever taken by Miss Guin-never or I--rather I might say by her. I can't say but what I have made some slight preliminary arrangements." He paused, then went on anxiously: "I trust there ain't any personal objections to the case." Mrs. Gusty made folds in her black-silk skirt and creased them down with her thumb-nail. "No," she said shortly; "far as I can see, Guin-never would be doing mighty well to get you. You'd be a long sight safer than a good-looking young fellow. Of course a man being so much older than a girl is apt to leave her a widow. But, for my part, I believe in second marriages." Mr. Opp felt as if he had received a hot and cold douche at the same time; but the result was a glow. "Then you don't oppose it, Mrs. Gusty," he cried eagerly. "You'll write her you are willing?" "Not yet," said Mrs. Gusty; "there's a condition." "There ain't any condition in the world I won't meet to get her," he exclaimed recklessly, his fervor bursting its bounds. "You don't know how I feel about that young lady. Why, I'd live on bread and water all the rest of my life if it would make her happy. There hasn't been a hour since I met her that she hasn't held my soul--as you might say--in the pa'm of her hand." "People don't often get it so bad at our age," remarked Mrs. Gusty, sarcastically, and Mr. Opp winced. "The condition," went on Mrs. Gusty, "that I spoke about, was your sister. Of course I never would consent to Guin-never living under the same roof with a crazy person." The hope which was carrying Mr. Opp to the dizziest heights dropped to earth at this unexpected shaft, and for a moment he was too stunned to speak. "Kippy?" he began at last, and his voice softened at the name. "Why, you don't understand about her. She's just similar to a little child. I told Miss Guin-never all about her; she never made any objections. You--you--wouldn't ask me to make any promises along that line?" Abject entreaty shone from Mr. Opp's eyes; it was a plea for a change of sentence. She had asked of him the only sacrifice in the world at which he would have faltered. "Don't--don't put it like that!" he pleaded, laying his hand on her arm in his earnestness. "I'm all she's got in the world; I've kind of become familiar with her ways, you know, and can manage her. She'll love Miss Guin-never if I tell her to. She shan't be a bit of care or trouble; I and Aunt Tish will continue on doing everything for her. You won't refuse your consent on that account, will you? You'll promise to say yes, now won't you, Mrs. Gusty?" A slight and ominous cough in the doorway caused them both to start. Mr. Tucker, in widower's weeds, but with a jonquil jauntily thrust through his buttonhole, stood with his hand still on the knob, evidently transfixed by the scene he had witnessed.