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"I am content! The second love of Mabel Aylett must ever be more to

me than the first of any other woman!"

True, he nearly spoiled all the nextfrom his

pocket a wee velvet case, fro, and proceeded, then and there, in the shadow of the

accoer He had foreseen

that she would not be hardly won, and with characteristic providence

had prepared himself for the event

The blood leaped to Mabel's temples and the fire to her eye, at the

prompt seal set by the practical non-enthusiast upon the contract,

but she bit her lip, and subht He

owed his exemption from rebuke to her memory of his latest

utterance She could not , and

she overlooked the breach of taste that followed; treasured up the

heart-saying as one of the few souvenirs she cared to preserve of

his courtship

"If he is content, I need not be miserable," was the consolatory

reflection hich she took upon herself her new and binding

obligations