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"I should have felt hurt," replied John with a happy smile, "if they had

asked anyone else to marry them And you will be there, Colette?"

"Certainly," she declared "I wouldn't o with me, Colette?"

She colored, and her eyes drooped beneath his fixed gaze

"Yes," she said, "I will go with you"

"Thank you, Colette," he answered gently, realizing what a surrender

this was, and dee it wise not to follow up his victory immediately

And at his reticence Colette was conscious of a shade of disappointan to feel an uncomfortable atmosphere in the silence that

ensued, so she broke it, speaking hastily and confusedly

"Oh, John, there is so else they want of you The request is made

by unanimous desire that you wear their surplice--that awful surplice!"

A shadow not unlike a frown fell athwart John's brow, and he made no

immediate reply