“What!” she exclaimed. “What was that? Get out of Harniss? What do you mean? Where are you goin’?” Then, her voice rising, she demanded sharply: “Come, come! What is all this? Esther, tell me this minute!” Esther involuntarily put out a hand. “Oh, don’t, Aunt Reliance!” she pleaded. “Don’t speak like that. I-- Oh, we came to you because you were the one person we could come to, the only one who would understand and--and help. If you knew how I have counted on your help and your sympathy and--oh, everything! Don’t _you_ begin by being angry with me. I--I don’t think I could stand it now.” Her aunt crossed to her side and put an arm about her. “There, there, dear!” she said, heartily. “Don’t you fret about that. If you can’t count on me I don’t know who you can count on. And I’m not cross, either. I am--well, I’m surprised--and a little scared, perhaps, but I am not cross.... There, there!... Now will you--one of you--please tell me what this means, this goin’ away from Harniss?” It was Bob who answered. His answer was prompt and to the point. “I will tell you, Miss Clark,” he said. “Esther and I are going to be married. We have decided that, caring for each other as we do, no one else shall be considered any longer. No one else has the right to be considered. She sent for me this afternoon, telegraphed me to come to my studio and meet her there. She told me that she had decided she could not live with her uncle any longer. She told me that she would marry me and go away with me, to Europe or anywhere else. That was enough, so far as I was concerned. We are leaving Harniss to-night--together. We came to tell you so and to say good-by. That is the whole truth, isn’t it, Esther?” Esther lifted her head from her aunt’s shoulder and stepped back to his side. “Yes, it is,” she said. “We are going to be married, Aunt Reliance. It is settled and no one can prevent it.” Reliance looked from one to the other. She put a hand to her forehead. “My soul!” she exclaimed. “Oh, my soul! Wait--wait! Let me understand this. Esther Townsend, does this mean that you and--and he are goin’ to run away--elope--whatever you call it--now, to-night?” Esther nodded. “Yes,” she said. “That is just what it means. Oh, Aunt Reliance, can’t you see? I have made up my mind at last. I have thought of others and for others long enough. They haven’t been thinking of me at all, but of their own selfish pride and prejudices. It is time--high time--I thought of my own happiness. I could never be happy without Bob, nor he without me. So we are going to be happy together, that is all.” Again Reliance looked at them both. There were no symptoms of faltering determination in either face. She looked long and steadily. Then she sighed. “Oh, dear!” she murmured. “Oh, dear, dear! Well, I expected almost anything, after that bag was brought here this afternoon. Almost anything, but not just this. This is dreadful.” Griffin frowned. Esther straightened. Her eyes flashed.