“My case is this: to begin with, I love your brother better than anything else in the world——”

“Possibly: a number of women have done so,” he interrupted. “Well?”

“And he loves me,” I continued, not noticing the interruption.

“Agreed. It is a situation that happens every day among young fools. You have known one another about a month, I believe?”

“Under four weeks,” I corrected.

He laughed bitterly.

“It cannot be of such vital importance to you then in that short time!”

“It is of vital importance to me, and you know your brother’s character; you will be able to judge as well as I if, or not, it is a matter of vital importance to him.”

He frowned. “Well, your case.”