"Annesley?" Nancy's face brightened. "Colonel Annesley? Why, I know Betty Annesley. She was my room-mate at Smith one year. She was in my graduating class. I'll show you her picture later. She was the dearest girl! How she loved horses! But why are you so interested?"--slyly. "I ran across them coming home." "Then you met Betty! Isn't she just the loveliest girl you ever saw?" "I'm for her, one and indivisible. But hang my luck, I never came within a mile of an introduction." "What? You, and on shipboard where she couldn't get away?" John threw up his hands as a sign that this information had overcome him. "Even the captain shied when I approached him," said Robert, gloomily. "I begin to see," said the brother. "See what?" "Have a match; your cigar has gone out." Robert relighted his cigar and puffed like a threshing-machine engine. John leaned toward Nancy. "Shall I tell him, Nan?" Nancy blushed. "I suppose he'll have to know sooner or later." "Know what?" asked the third person singular "Your charming sister is about to bring you a brother-in-law." "What?" You could have heard this across the street. "Yes, Bobby dear. And don't look so hurt. You don't want me to become an old maid, do you?" "When did it happen?"--helplessly. How the thought of his sister's marrying horrifies a brother! I believe I can tell you why. Every brother knows that no man is good enough for a good woman. "When did it happen?" Mr. Robert repeated, with a look at his brother, which said that _he_ should be held responsible. "Last week." Robert took in a long breath, as one does who expects to receive a blow of some sort which can not be warded off, and asked: "Who is it?" Nancy married? What was the world coming to, anyhow? "Charlie Henderson,"--timidly. Then Robert, who had been expecting nothing less than an English duke, let loose the flaming ions of his righteous wrath. "Chuck Henderson?--that duffer?" (Oh, Mr. Robert, Mr. Robert; and after all I've done for you!) "He's not a duffer!" remonstrated Nancy, with a flare in her mild eyes. (How I wish I might have seen her as she defended me!) "He's the dearest fellow in the world, and I love him with all my heart!" (How do you like that, Mr. Robert? Bravo, Nancy! I may be a duffer, true enough, but I rather object to its being called out from the housetops.) And Nancy added: "I want you to understand distinctly, Robert, that in my selection of a husband you are not to be consulted." This was moving him around some. "Hold on, Nan! Drat it, don't look like that! I meant nothing, dearie; only I'm a heap surprised. Chuck _is_ a good fellow, I'll admit; but I've been dreaming of your marrying a prince or an ambassador, and Henderson comes like a jolt. Besides, Chuck will never be anything but a first-rate politician. You'll have to get used to cheap cigars and four-ply whisky. When is it going to happen?" "In June. I have always loved him, Bob. And he wants you to be his best man."