.

Arthur," she continued, "what was it that you first liked me for ?" "It was a buckle you wore one night at sea," said Arthur, after due consideration.

"I remember noticing--it's an absurd thing to notice!--that you didn't take peas, because I don't either." From this they went on to compare their more serious tastes, or rather Susan ascertained what Arthur cared about, and professed herself very fond of the same thing.

They would live in London, perhaps have a cottage in the country near Susan's family, for they would find it strange without her at first.

Her mind, stunned to begin with, now flew to the various changes that her engagement would make--how delightful it would be to join the ranks of the married women--no longer to hang on to groups of girls much younger than herself--to escape the long solitude of an old maid's life.