"Search me!"
"I told him—the truth."
"We-ell?"
"And—I'm going to marry him!"
Mrs. Slawson sat down hard upon the nearest chair, as if the happy shock had deprived her of strength to support her own weight.
"No!" she fairly shouted.
"_Yes!" _cried Claire. "And, O, Martha! I'm so happy! And—did you ever dream such a thing could possibly happen?"
"Well, you certaintly have give me a start. I often thought how I'd like to see Mr. Ronald your financiay or your trosso, or whatever they call it. But, that it would really come to pass—" She paused.
"O, you don't know how I dreaded next winter," Claire said, as if she were thinking aloud. "I went over it—and I went over it, in my mind—what I'd do—where I'd go—and now—Now!… I couldn't take that fine job you had your eye on for me, not even if it had come to something. Don't you remember? I mean, the splendid job you had the idea about, that first night I was sick. I shan't need it now, shall I, Martha?"
"You got it!" said Martha.