promise you we'll remain as good friends as ever. I am the way I am. You must take it or leave it. All I can assure you is that I will be a very good and faithful wife to any man I decide to marry."
"That's good enough for me," he said stoudy. "My offer stands. You are free, but I am not."
"Though, in fact, you are," she assured him, smiling at last. "And now we'll leave it at that. Let us join the others."
The only reason Bruce found sleep that night was in his repeating to himself her assurance that he really was still free. For he had begun already to question his rashness. To love and marry a girl with love and no money was one thing, a perfectly feasible and even desirable thing. To love and marry a girl with no love and no money was quite another. But in any event, the morrow brought him catastrophe.
When he went to his office, he found Wallace waiting for him there, with an ashen countenance and a cable in his hand, which he silently handed over to his startled brother. It was from Sir John Muir, and it read: "You say you must choose your own partners. So be it. And, similarly, I must choose my own American agents. Please hand over all my business matters to Isaac Fletcher & Co. Our family relationships, I trust, will remain unaffected."
Sir John had recently proposed that his new American son-in-law, Frederick Ames, be taken in as a full partner in Carnochan Brothers, and Wallace and Bruce had, somewhat stiffly, declined.
"Could we backtrack?" Bruce gasped. "Do you think we could still get hold of Fred?"
Wallace shook his head gravely. "Not a chance. I heard yesterday that Fred had accepted a partnership in Fletcher. It's all sewed up. And you know Muir. He never changes his mind. I had no idea he'd take our refusal so hard. I thought he might understand that you and I would be reluctant to share a business that we've built up from nothing with a young and inexperienced fellow who's just had the luck to marry into the family. But I guess nothing that we can do can reduce the size of the swelled head that John's brand-new baronetcy has given him."
"But Muir Thread is three quarters of our business," Bruce moaned.
"Well, we must look for a substitute, that's all."
"It's all very well for you, Wally. You have Julie's money."
"And what do
you
need money for? You live free at Mother's, and you dine out every night at other people's houses. Buck up, old man! It's not the end of the world."
"It's the end of part of one. There are things you don't know, Wally!"
Bruce lost no time in doing what he now knew he had to do. He wanted to get it over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. He called at the Bensons' that very afternoon, asked to see Miss Atwater, and was received by her in a small antechamber next to the great hall.
"Could you even think of marrying a man with only five thousand a year?" he blurted out.
"Oh, my poor Bruce, what's happened?"
She listened attentively while he poured out the sad financial tale. But she took it in more as a friend whose sympathy and advice were to be sought than as a potential partner in woe. At last she said: "Of course, I see that this puts a definite hold on the discussion we had yesterday."
"A hold or a veto?"
"Don't you have to wait and see if your brother-in-law may change his mind?"
"But he never does."
"Well then, you must wait and see what new business opportunities show up."
Bruce shook his head firmly. "I'm afraid Muir was the chance of a lifetime. It was a great boon for me. The long and short of it, Kitty, is that I'm afraid I may never be an adequate earner. But I'll always have something, and when Mother goes, a bit more. You and I could make do on it."
Kitty's smile seemed meant to confirm the depth of her worldly knowledge. "I don't think we would ever be a happy couple just making do, Bruce. We might be pretty enough flowers in the sunshine, but I'm afraid we'd droop sadly in the shadows. I know myself too well, and I think I know you. We're
"That's good enough for me," he said stoudy. "My offer stands. You are free, but I am not."
"Though, in fact, you are," she assured him, smiling at last. "And now we'll leave it at that. Let us join the others."
The only reason Bruce found sleep that night was in his repeating to himself her assurance that he really was still free. For he had begun already to question his rashness. To love and marry a girl with love and no money was one thing, a perfectly feasible and even desirable thing. To love and marry a girl with no love and no money was quite another. But in any event, the morrow brought him catastrophe.
When he went to his office, he found Wallace waiting for him there, with an ashen countenance and a cable in his hand, which he silently handed over to his startled brother. It was from Sir John Muir, and it read: "You say you must choose your own partners. So be it. And, similarly, I must choose my own American agents. Please hand over all my business matters to Isaac Fletcher & Co. Our family relationships, I trust, will remain unaffected."
Sir John had recently proposed that his new American son-in-law, Frederick Ames, be taken in as a full partner in Carnochan Brothers, and Wallace and Bruce had, somewhat stiffly, declined.
"Could we backtrack?" Bruce gasped. "Do you think we could still get hold of Fred?"
Wallace shook his head gravely. "Not a chance. I heard yesterday that Fred had accepted a partnership in Fletcher. It's all sewed up. And you know Muir. He never changes his mind. I had no idea he'd take our refusal so hard. I thought he might understand that you and I would be reluctant to share a business that we've built up from nothing with a young and inexperienced fellow who's just had the luck to marry into the family. But I guess nothing that we can do can reduce the size of the swelled head that John's brand-new baronetcy has given him."
"But Muir Thread is three quarters of our business," Bruce moaned.
"Well, we must look for a substitute, that's all."
"It's all very well for you, Wally. You have Julie's money."
"And what do
you
need money for? You live free at Mother's, and you dine out every night at other people's houses. Buck up, old man! It's not the end of the world."
"It's the end of part of one. There are things you don't know, Wally!"
Bruce lost no time in doing what he now knew he had to do. He wanted to get it over with as quickly and painlessly as possible. He called at the Bensons' that very afternoon, asked to see Miss Atwater, and was received by her in a small antechamber next to the great hall.
"Could you even think of marrying a man with only five thousand a year?" he blurted out.
"Oh, my poor Bruce, what's happened?"
She listened attentively while he poured out the sad financial tale. But she took it in more as a friend whose sympathy and advice were to be sought than as a potential partner in woe. At last she said: "Of course, I see that this puts a definite hold on the discussion we had yesterday."
"A hold or a veto?"
"Don't you have to wait and see if your brother-in-law may change his mind?"
"But he never does."
"Well then, you must wait and see what new business opportunities show up."
Bruce shook his head firmly. "I'm afraid Muir was the chance of a lifetime. It was a great boon for me. The long and short of it, Kitty, is that I'm afraid I may never be an adequate earner. But I'll always have something, and when Mother goes, a bit more. You and I could make do on it."
Kitty's smile seemed meant to confirm the depth of her worldly knowledge. "I don't think we would ever be a happy couple just making do, Bruce. We might be pretty enough flowers in the sunshine, but I'm afraid we'd droop sadly in the shadows. I know myself too well, and I think I know you. We're
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