"Yesterday," she continued, "I could not help it; I disobeyed his orders
and I spoke to him about Stella, and do you know, he listened to me
quite patiently. Mr. Vine, I am going to say something to you very
serious. You must not ask me how I know, or exactly what I know; but I
accidentally do know so much as this. You and Stella are very fond of
one another, and I should like to see you married."
He raised his eyebrows slowly.
"You would like," he repeated, "to see us married!"
She looked away from him. He could see that for some reason or other she
was embarrassed. The colour had streamed into her cheeks, but she went
on bravely enough.
"Yes!" she said. "I talked to my uncle about it, and he was quite nice.
He says that he does not want to see Stella again for a short time, but
if you two have made up your minds to be married--that is how he put
it--he is going to give Stella a million dollars."
"You must be a magician," he said coolly.
"I am nothing of the sort," she answered, "but I think that my uncle has
been very much misunderstood, or else something has changed him
wonderfully during the past few months. Now, I came straight to see you
and to tell you this, Mr.
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