"Darling!" exclaimed John Everett. "Then we'll be married to-morrow. For to tell you the truth, Jane, I'm downright afraid to let you go back to England alone."
Of course this ridiculously hasty decision of John Everett's had to be severely modified and reconstructed by the various ladies nearly concerned in the case. Bertha Forbes, for one, immediately took a hand in the affair and pooh-poohed the notion of such unseemly haste.
"What do you know about this young man, anyhow, that you should be willing to marry him out of hand in this mad fashion?" she demanded with decided acrimony.
"I love him," Jane replied, with stubborn tranquillity. "I shall never love anyone else," she added confidently.
"What about Mr. Towle?" inquired Bertha coolly.
"Mr. Towle!" echoed Jane, with an air of extreme surprise. "What, pray, has Mr. Towle to do with it?"
"Isn't he a lover of yours?"
"I'm sure I can't help that," pouted Jane, with a shrug of her slim shoulders. "He is ages older than I am, and besides——"
"Well," grunted Miss Forbes, "go on; what other crimes has he committed?"