"Yes, I know it."
"And you are his gentle goddess."
"No, no, no; you were never so mistaken in all your life. It's not me at all; it's—oh, how can I tell you? You'll surely be angry."
"No, Mary: go on."
"It's the most absurd thing I ever heard of. He's in love with—with Millicent."
For a moment there was a shadow on Tom's face, and then, sitting back in his chair, he laughed with all his might. Mary joined him, and the two kept at it till exhaustion stopped them.
"Oh, Lord!" gasped Tom; "if I could only hear and see how he'd manage proposing to her!" And then he and Mary took fresh courage, and laughed again.
"Shall you consent?" asked Mary, when she could get breath enough to speak.
"Consent? Certainly: it's the best way of settling him. Why, with all her high-flown notions, she'd scalp him if he ever hinted it to her." And then Tom tried to laugh again, but failed from sheer lack of energy.
"Oh, Father Tom," she broke out, all at once, "I overheard some men talking, to-day, and found out that Mrs. Mary Stanley was merely a woman to whom papa was once very kind, and not his wife at all, as I imagined."
"Certainly she wasn't his wife," answered Tom, delighted to find her suspicions set at ease. "It is too bad you got nervous about it."
"It don't matter in the least now; and you can be sure I shan't be such a goose again."
"One funny consequence of your notion about Mrs. Stanley is that Walter saw you in my arms, that day, and thought we were making love to each other."
"You and I, Father Tom?"
"Yes; but don't let it distress you."
"It don't; it's almost as comical as Droopy's love-dream. Really, your son ought to be ashamed of himself."
Walter was passing under the parlor window at that very moment. He heard what Tom and Mary said, and he was ashamed of himself. Better still, he was undeceived.
XV.
A little after noon, the next day, Mary went for another walk to Bilkins's deserted shaft. She was in capital spirits now, and she wanted to see how the scene of her melancholy broodings would seem to her, now that her unhappy illusion concerning Mrs. Mark Stanley was dispelled.
Just before she reached the haunted shaft., she was aware that some one was hastening eagerly along after her. The light, nimble footsteps convinced her that it was no miner. More likely than not it was Walter Morris; and the thought of him made her also think of what Tom had said the night before; and she laughed outright.
