"Queer old stick, isn't he?" he asked.

"He's been very kind to me," Marie answered.

"He's kind to everybody," Chris agreed. "I hope I shall not lose sight of him just because I am married."

"Why should you?"

"Because he's a confirmed bachelor, and he thought I was; he was furious with me for getting married."

"Was he?"

"Yes, we always knocked about together, you see, and I suppose he thinks everything will be different now."

"It need not be," said Marie.

"No, that's what I tell him," Chris agreed, eagerly. "I told him 93 you were not an exacting woman; I told him that we had known one another all our lives."

There was a little silence.