'I have not. I was not in to breakfast. Even had I been, I should not have seen her, for neither she nor Kate was down.' 'You awoke me, Nevill, did you not? Have you anything to tell me, anything to say?' 'I am sorry I disturbed you, Osborne; but I could not rest still. My dear fellow, you know what I told you last evening about Kate?' 'Yes; that you had proposed to her. Have you got a reply?' 'I have. I called this morning at Lombard Street, and found a letter there from Kate. The letter, although a refusal, gave me a half notion I had failed only for the time. So I came on straight here to see her and you. I have been with her all day, and I cannot tell you how delighted I am, my dear Osborne, to say to you there is hope I may yet succeed, though nothing definite has been arranged, nor will she allow me to call her anything more than Miss Osborne, until her mother's consent has been obtained, which is quite right.' 'And you want to speak to me now about the matter?' asked Osborne, sitting up in the darkness. 'Yes, if you have no objection.' 'On the contrary, I shall be glad to listen; it will interest me, since it concerns Kate, and at present I prefer not to think of my own affairs. Go on, Nevill; go on.' 'Well, Osborne, I will tell you all I think you would care to hear, and then I will ask you to do me a great favour. I have knocked about in the world in my time, and have been no better than most men--nothing like you. I lived at Rome; and you know that Rome often lived up a tree. But, upon the whole, I was among the ruck; I don't think I led. You must know my people were no great swells, only middle-class merchant-folk. I am alone in the world. My father lived at New York, and made a little money in corn. I'm thirty years of age. I have never been in gaol. I have never yet committed bigamy. I have thirty thousand pounds, and not a soul to leave a penny to. I'd settle all of it on Kate, and anyone who might come after us. I am a native of England, of the parish of Stepney, as I was born at sea. I was born under British colours, on the way out to the States, before either my father or mother, and I may add before I myself, ever set foot on American soil. I am an advanced Radical, was reared in the Church of England faith, and mean henceforth to conform to that creed.' He paused awhile, and tried to pierce the darkness in the direction where Osborne sat; but he could see absolutely nothing. Now that there was silence, Nevill could hear the deep breathing of the silent listener. At length George spoke,-- 'Go on, Nevill. Go on; I am listening to you most attentively.' 'So much for the past and present. Now for the future. You are not, I suppose, going to live in London always?' 'I cannot say. I do not know.'