“And a noble one, too,” said the president, warmly. “Well, if ever a girl entered upon matrimony with bright prospects, _she_ is that one. I verily believe she could make Jack Bittersweet do anything she wanted, whether he liked or not!” “At any rate, she has begun well,” said the brown-eyed blonde, sweetly. When the girl with the dimple in her chin reached the blue-eyed girl’s home, she ran up the stairs to her friend’s room, two steps at a time, and burst open the door. That young person was discovered, radiant with smiles in spite of the traces of recent tears; she was seated at her desk, and the waste basket was overflowing with crumpled sheets of her best note paper. “Oh, you dear, Dorothy,” said the visitor, “tell me all about it, do! I was dying to come earlier, but I wanted to see what Frances would do when she heard that Jack was coming here, so I had to stay all through the meeting. Evelyn says that no girl ever had brighter prospects in marrying than you, and—” “Oh! then, they all know I am to be married, do they? Did Jack tell? I thought he would hold his peace, because—” “Well, not exactly; but he told me that he was on his way here to ask you to forgive him for everything he ever did! And he said he just wouldn’t come away until you set your wedding-day, and so—” “Oh! he told you that, did he? Well, it is set, and—” “Dear old Jack, he must be the happiest fellow in the world, for he—” “M—I can’t say that he looked it when he went away; however, some people have such a way of concealing their emotions. I never had myself; I am as open as the day—anybody could know just what I intended to do all the time.” “Of course; I told Jack how it would be from the start. But I don’t see why he looked so melancholy when he came away. Didn’t you set the wedding day early enough to please him?” “He said he didn’t want to know the day, and—” “Didn’t want to know the day of his own wedding! Why, the poor boy must be crazy; he—” “The date of his _own_ wedding! Emily Marshmallow, are you out of your mind? I said the date of _my_ wedding, and—” “Would you mind feeling my pulse, dear, or examining my eye to see if there is a look of insanity in it! For really, I don’t see how you and Jack can be married to each other on different days, unless you are thinking of matrimony on the instalment plan; and that—” “Married to each other? Jack Bittersweet and I? Why, Emily Marshmallow, you haven’t listened to a word I have been saying, when I have been telling you for the last half hour I am to marry Clarence Lighthed, the only man I ever loved, next month, and—” “Oh, Dorothy, don’t! If Jack did not ask you to marry him to-day, it was only that he hadn’t the courage, and—”