"I half thought you _might_ spring up!" the girl confessed. "If I had, what would you have done?" "I--don't know." "It would have made matters worse for the future--more difficult all round," Tony said. "That thought held me back. But, Marise, it was cruel to spring this surprise on me." "It doesn't seem to have been a surprise," she reminded him. "How _did_ you know about it--the church, and everything?" "A little bird told me. Why did you want to hurt me so?" Marise shrugged her shoulders. "You had hurt me--almost to death. I _had_ to strike back! But let's not talk of it any more. The thing's done--and can't be undone." "It can, and will be, before long, please Heaven!" The girl laughed. "Please _Heaven_?" And she was glad when Pobbles broke in, Mums at his side. "My dear young lady, Garth confided in me (am I not his Colonel, which is much the same as a father confessor?) that this--er--this little show had been got up in a hurry for one reason or other. I'm pleased and honoured to be in at the dea--I mean the birth--er--you _know_ what I mean! And I'd be still more pleased if--er--couldn't we--I--invite you all to some sort of blow-out? My wife----" "Sweet of you, Lord Pobblebrook!" cut in Mrs. Sorel. "But if there'd been time for any sort of rejoicing, any little feast, I should be giving it and asking Lady Pobblebrook and yourself to join us. But I suppose Major Garth can't quite have made it clear to you that he is called away suddenly--on a sort of _mission_. That's why the marriage was so rushed. He has to go at once, so he wanted to be married first, and----" "Take my wife with me," explained Garth. His mother-in-law of ten minutes stared at him with the eyes of a cold, boiled fish. "Of course--yes--that's what he _wanted_," she smiled to Pobbles. "What a pity it can't be! My daughter, Lord Pobblebrook, is a servant of the public, you know. She has to obey them, marriage or no marriage. And they want her in New York." "Not as much as I want her out West," said Garth. He smiled again--that same queer smile with the same unreadable look in his eyes, though this time both were for Mums. The indignant lady turned to Marise, in case there were some plot against her; but the girl gave a very slight shake of her head. Light came back to Mrs. Sorel's eyes. She ought to be able to trust her own daughter! "I took the liberty of ordering lunch for four at the Ritz after I met my Colonel in the hall of the Belmore," said Garth. "I stopped on the way there, to buy the ring. But"--and he eyed Severance coolly--"there will be room to have a fifth plate laid, if--er----" "Oh!" thought Marise. "Not so much Cave Man, after all, as the Strong, Silent Man! All right! I know _that_ kind from A to Z. And I dare say it's just as easy to be a Strong, Silent Girl as to be a Cave Girl, if once you begin properly." Her sense of adventure woke again as she waited to hear Tony's answer. CHAPTER XVII THE SPEAKING-TUBE