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"Yes"

"To cook--and wash for you"

"Yes"

"To mend your clothes for you"

"Yes"

"And you think me--sufficiently competent?"

"Oh, Charmian, I--yes"

Thank you!" said she, very soleh her lashes had

drooped, I felt the ulp of tea, and caan to pleat another fold in the tablecloth

"And so Mr Vibart would stoop to wed so humble a person as

Charmian Brown? Mr Peter Vibart would, actually, ?"

"Yes," said I

"That, again, would be rather--unwise, wouldn't it?"

"Why?"

"Considering Mr Vibart's very lofty ideals in regard to women"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you once say that your wife's na of the kind?"

"Did I?--yes, perhaps I did--well?"

"Well, this woman--this Humble Person has no name at all, and no

shred of reputation left her She has compromised herself beyond

all redemption in the eyes of the world"

"But then," said I, "this world and I have always mutually

despised each other"