Jerce looked down at his neat boots. "I should have thought that a girl of your strong character would have chosen otherwise." "Really," said Clarice, indifferently. "In fact," stammered Jerce, flushing, "I thought of offering myself as your husband." "Oh, I saw that long ago, doctor." "And you had no pity upon me?" "Why should I have pity?" asked Clarice, with a perceptible smile. "I have not played the coquette with you." "No," said Jerce, bitterly; "I am bound to say that at the first hint I gave you of my feelings, you recoiled, and have since held me at arm's length." "Seeing that I am engaged, that is as it should be." Jerce bit his lips. It angered him that she should be so calm, and so completely mistress of herself. "There is no hope for me, I suppose?" he inquired, with great humility. "None. Anthony is the man I love, and Anthony will be my husband." "Perhaps," said Jerce, under his breath, but she heard him. "Why do you say that?" she asked, abruptly. "There's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip." "That's a very well-known proverb, doctor, but it does not explain what you mean." "Then will you permit me to speak plainer?" "If you are wise you will not," said Clarice, quietly. "We are good friends, doctor; why should we become strangers?" "I could never be a stranger to you," he said, fervently. "Oh, I think so, if I chose." "And would you choose?" "Certainly, if you would not accept the situation." "I cannot," cried Jerce, his emotions getting the better of his judgment. "I am a man, and I feel like a man. For years I have loved you, and for a long time I have wished to make you my wife. I spoke to Horran, and he was agreeable that I should marry you." "Indeed," cried Clarice, with a flush of anger. "Then permit me to remind you, doctor, that Mr. Horran, much as I loved him, had not the right to dispose of my hand. That goes with my heart." "Which is possessed by Captain Ackworth," said Jerce, bitterly. "Exactly. You leave nothing to be desired in the way of explanation." "But Ackworth is not worthy of you," urged the doctor. "Really, and in what way?" Jerce was puzzled how to reply. He knew next to nothing about Captain Ackworth. "He doesn't look as if he had brains." "Ah! Looks are deceptive sometimes. Now you, doctor, look as though you had common sense, yet your conversation at present doesn't reveal that quality." "You are hard, Clarice." "I thought that you were not going to call me Clarice until you had the right?" "I wish to acquire the right." "It is too late. Come, doctor," said Clarice, tired of this quibbling, "it is useless to prolong this conversation. There are more important things to talk about than my marriage, which, after all--as I have reminded you--is entirely my own affair. Let us agree to be friends," and she held out her hand, smiling. Jerce did not take it. "I can be nothing less than your husband," he said, drawing down his long upper lip obstinately.