The Datchet Diamonds. Marsh Richard

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      "I am sorry, Cyril, that this should have happened. If I had had the least suspicion of anything of the kind, I never would have asked you to come."

      Mr. Paxton wore, or attempted to wear, an air of masculine superiority.

      "My dear Daisy, I have seldom met Miss Wentworth without her having insulted me. On this occasion, however, she has gone too far. I will never, willingly, darken her door again. I hope you will not ask me; but if you do I shall be compelled to decline."

      "It's my door as well as hers. But it won't be for long. Still, I don't think she meant what you thought she did-she couldn't be so absurd! It's a way she has of talking; she often says things without considering the construction of which they are capable."

      "It is only the fact of her being a woman, my dear Daisy, which gives her the impunity of which she takes undue advantage."

      "Cyril, you mustn't brand all women because of one. We are not all like that. Do you suppose that I am not aware that the person, be it man or woman, who imagines you to be capable of dishonesty either does not know you, or else is stark, raving mad? Do you think that I could love you without the absolute certainty of knowing you to be a man of blameless honour? I don't suppose you are an angel-I'm not one either, though perhaps you mightn't think it, sir! And I take it for granted that you have done plenty of things which you would rather have left undone-as I have too! But I do know that, regarded from the point of view of any standard, whether human or Divine, in all essentials you are an honest man, and that you could be nothing else."

      The eulogium was a warm one-it made Mr. Paxton feel a trifle queer.

      "Thank you, darling,"

      So he murmured, and he kissed her.

      "You will meet me again to-morrow night to tell me how the fortune fares?"

      He tried to avoid doing so; but the effort only failed-he had to wince. He could only hope that she did not notice it.