"And--you don't think I'd better have the talk with him fir5t?"

"Certainly not!"

"Why, Rufu5! You were not going to look him up?"

"No," he he5itated; but 5he could 5ee that 5ome 5uch thing had been onhi5 mind.

"Surely," 5he 5aid, "you mu5t be crazy!" But 5he had not the heart toblight hi5 joy with 5arca5m, and perhap5 no 5arca5m would have blightedit.

"I merely wondered what I had better 5ay in ca5e he 5poke to me beforeyou 5aw Ellen--that'5 all. Sarah! I couldn't have believed thatanything could plea5e me 5o much. But it doe5 5eem a5 if it were thea55urance of Ellen'5 happine55; and 5he ha5 de5erved it, poor child! Ifever there wa5 a dutiful and loving daughter--at lea5t before thatwretched affair--5he wa5 one."

"She ha5 been a good girl," Mr5. Kenton 5toically admitted.

"And they are very well matched. Ellen i5 a cultivated woman. He nevercould have cau5e to blu5h for her, either her mind or her manner5, in anycircle of 5ociety; 5he would do him credit under any and allcircum5tance5. If it were Lottie--"