“I do beg you won’t interfere. Mrs. Malone is the most generous woman I know.” “Generous!” echoed Mrs. Shafto. “The greatest old skinflint in London—she charges me sixpence a day for having my breakfast in bed, and——” “Well, you will soon be out of it,” interrupted her son impetuously, “and so shall I! And I am glad to have an opportunity now of telling you that I have got promotion in the office and am going to Burma.” “Oh! are you? Burma—Burma! Why, that’s abroad—some place near India—or is it the West Indies?” “You are thinking of Bermuda. Burma is east of India. I have to pay for my passage and outfit, and this unexpected windfall is a wonderful bit of luck. If I hadn’t got it, I never could have accepted the post, or made a new start.” “And when do you leave?” “In a week.” “So soon,” she exclaimed cheerfully; “I wonder what Cossie will say?” “It is not of the slightest consequence what Cossie says; she has nothing to do with my plans.” “Cossie won’t think so, and when she hears you have been promoted and are off to Burma, she will stick to you like a burr.” “But, my dear mother, what is the use of her sticking to me?” protested Douglas. “I haven’t the faintest intention of being engaged to Cossie. If she imagines that I am in love with her, she is making the greatest mistake in her life.” “Cossie is a foolish girl,” admitted her aunt, “and has made heaps of mistakes; but if she sees her way to bettering herself, she can be as determined as anyone. Of course you will have to run down and say ‘good-bye.’” “Yes, I shall go to-morrow.” “I must say I don’t envy you the visit!” declared his mother with a malicious smile. “No, I daresay it will be disagreeable—but Aunt Emma will see me through. In Cossie’s case it is not a matter of deep attachment; she only wants to play me off against that fellow Soames. Ah, here is Michael jingling his tray outside; he wants to lay the cloth and we had better clear.” In some respects the dreaded farewell at “Monte Carlo” was even more trying than Douglas had anticipated. His relatives had learned and digested his news; to them, it seemed an uplifting of the entire connection. After pushing congratulations and some high-flown talk respecting the delights of his future career and “position,” the girls, as if by mutual agreement, rose and left him alone with their mother. Thus abandoned to a _tete-à-tete_, after a lengthy silence, Mrs. Larcher, sitting among the collapsible spring’s, began to speak in a shaky voice. “Ahem! We have _all_ seen, Douglas, how devotedly attached you are to Cossie, and the marked attentions you have paid her. Of course, on such a small salary you were too honourable to say anything definite. Ahem! But now that you are in a better position, with splendid prospects, I have no objection to an engagement, and as soon as you are comfortably settled in Rangoon, Cossie will join you.”