even less like a stern and silent Rhodesian. I reflected a minute and then asked him why he wanted to marry me. That seemed to fluster him a good deal, and he murmured that a wife was a great help to a General Practitioner. The position seemed even more unromantic than before, and yet something in me urged towards its acceptance. Safety, that was what I was being offered. Safety—and a Comfortable Home. Thinking it over now, I believe I did the little man an injustice. He was honestly in love with me, but a mistaken delicacy prevented him from pressing his suit on those lines. Anyway, my love of romance rebelled.
"It's extremely kind of you," I said. "But it's impossible. I could never marry a man unless I loved him madly."
"You don't think?"
"No, I don't," I said firmly.
He sighed.
"But, my dear child, what do you propose to do?"
"Have adventures and see the world," I replied, without the least hesitation.
"Miss Anne, you are very much of a child still. You don't understand"
"The practical difficulties? Yes, I do, doctor. I'm not a sentimental schoolgirl—I'm a hard-headed mercenary shrew! You'd know it if you married me!"
"I wish you would reconsider"
"I can't."
He sighed again.
"I have another proposal to make. An aunt of mine who lives in Wales is in want of a young lady to help her. How would that suit you?"
"No, doctor, I'm going to London. If things happen anywhere, they happen in London. I shall keep my eyes
