CHAPTER V.
MOLLIE'S MISCHIEF.
Miss Dane returned to New York "engaged," and with the fact known to none save herself and the enraptured Welshman.
"There is no need to be in a hurry," the young lady said to her elderly adorer; "and I want to be safely at home before I overwhelm them with the news.

There is always such fussing and talking made over engagements, and an engagement is dreadfully humdrum and doweryish anyhow." That was what Miss Dane said.

What she thought was entirely another matter.
"I do want Doctor Oleander and Mr.Sardonyx to propose; and if they discover I've accepted the baronet, they won't.

I am dying to see the wry faces they will make over 'No, thanks!' Then there is Hugh Ingelow--" But Mollie's train of wicked thoughts was apt to break off at this point, and a remorseful expression cloud her blue eyes.
"Poor Hugh! Poor fellow! It's a little too bad to treat him so; and he's dreadfully fond of me, too.

But, then, it's impossible to help it; of course it is.