"Ah!"

She smiled; but in the smile there was more of sadness than mirth.

"Why waste time?" he demanded passionately. "God knows we have little enough time. Jenny, I warn you, I beg you not to waste time. You're making a mistake. Like all girls, you're keeping one foot in a sort of washy respectability."

"Don't go on," Jenny said. "I've told you I will one day."

"Why not come abroad with me if you're afraid of what your people will say?"

"I couldn't. Not while my mother was alive."

"Well, don't do that; but still it's easy enough not—to waste time. Your mother need never find out. I'm not a fool."

"Ah, but I should feel a sneak."

Maurice sighed at such scruples.

"Besides," she added, "I don't want to—not yet. Can't we be happy like we have been? I will one day."