"Yes, but I do not comprehend. Does not the lady in question like
Appledore as well as you do?"
"She likes Appledore well enough. I do not know how well she likes me. I never had a chance to find out. I don't think she _dis_likes me, though," said Tom meditatively.
"It is not too late to find out yet," Philip said, with even more dryness in his tone.
"O, isn't it, though!" said Tom. "I'm tied up from ever asking her now.
I'm engaged to another woman."
"Tom!" said the other, suddenly straightening himself up.
"Don't shout at a fellow! What could I do? They wouldn't let me have what I wanted; and now they're quite pleased, and Julia has gone home. She has done her work. O, I am making an excellent match. 'An old family, and three hundred thousand dollars,' as my mother says. That's all one wants, you know."
"Who is the lady?"
"It don't matter, you know, when you have heard her qualifications. It's Miss Dulcimer—one of the Philadelphia Dulcimers. Of course one couldn't make a better bargain for oneself. And I'm as fond of her as I can be; in fact, I was afraid I was getting too fond. So I ran away, as I told you, to think over my happiness at leisure, and moderate my feelings."
"Tom, Tom, I never heard you bitter before," said his friend, regarding him with real concern.
"Because I never was bitter before. O, I shall be all right now. I haven't had a soul on whom I could pour out my mind, till this hour. I know you're as safe as a mine. It does me good to talk to you. I tell you, I shall be all right. I'm a very happy bridegroom expectant. You know, if the Caruthers have plenty of money, the Dulcimers have twice as much. Money's really everything."