"I am afraid we shall have to go," Lady Munro said, glancing at Mona's carriage clock; and, as she rose, she looked somewhat pointedly at Mr Brown.
The hint was lost on him, however. He bowed awkwardly to Lady Munro, and waited till Mona returned to the sitting-room.
"Miss Maclean," he blurted out hastily, "you will be disposed to laugh at me when I tell you I came here to ask you to be my wife. I knew you were far above me, but I had no notion of the like of this. You've no need to tell me that it can never be, but if ever you stand in need of a plain man's friendship, you know who to come to."
He held out his hand, forgetful of the frayed cuff, and Mona's eyes filled with tears as she took it.
"It is true it can never be, Mr Brown," she said—"not because I am above you, but because I don't love you as a good woman will some day. But I shall be proud and grateful, as long as I live, to think that so good a man has honoured me with his love."
She went with him to the door, and with a few common-place words they parted.
For the first time in her life Mona felt something of a contempt for Dr Dudley.
"What a fool I am," she thought, "to break my heart for you, when at least two greater men have wanted to make me their wife!"
But, even as she spoke, she knew that her words were not perfectly just.