What I want you to do, Curzon, is to--to see her at once--not to-day, she is going to an afternoon at Lady Swanley's--but to-morrow, and to--you know,"-- nervously--"to make a formal proposal to her." The professor throws back his head and laughs aloud.

Such a strange laugh.
"I am to propose to her--I ?" says he.
"For me, of course.

It is very usual," says Hardinge.

"And you are her guardian, you know, and----" "Why not propose to her yourself ?" says the professor, turning violently upon him.

"Why give me this terrible task?
Are you a coward, that you shrink from learning your fate except at the hands of another--another who----" "To tell you the truth, that is it," interrupts Hardinge, simply.