.

.

he loved her.
[Illustration: Mother Church cast her spell over his imagination.] What an absurdity was this revery, and Carmichael laughed aloud at himself.

Twice he had met Miss Carnegie--on one occasion she had found him watering strange dogs out of his hat, and on the other he had given her to understand that women were little removed from fools.

He had made the worst of himself, and this young woman who had lived with smart people must have laughed at him.