"But for you, it's improbable that I should have gone to Birching's at all.

At this moment I should be spending my money in idleness, and, in the end, should have gone back to what I did before.

You have given me a start in a new life." This, and much more of the same tenor, failed to bring a light upon Eve's countenance.

At length she asked suddenly, with a defiant bluntness---- "Have you ever thought what sort of a wife I am likely to make ?" Hilliard tried to laugh, but was disagreeably impressed by her words and the look that accompanied them.
"I have thought about it, to be sure," he answered carelessly "And don't you feel a need of courage ?" "Of course.

And not only the need but the courage itself." "Tell me the real, honest truth." She bent forward, and gazed at him with eyes one might have thought hostile.