Page:Stewart Edward White--The Rose Dawn.djvu/368

356 made a shrewd guess as to the nature of the trouble that had so evidently ravaged Kenneth.

The moment he had disappeared Kenneth turned eagerly to Daphne.

"Won't you promise to fix it up with the Colonel?" he pleaded. "You are the only one who can do it. Please promise!"

She looked at him considering, her head on one side.

"Will you let me arrange it entirely my own way? " she asked.

"Lord, yes."

"Well, I will. But not until after we are married."

"I think we ought to be married right away, then," stated Kenneth.

"I think so, too," she agreed, half mischievously, but with a hint of tenderness that caused Kenneth to seize her hungrily in his arms.

At this moment Brainerd returned from the back part of the house.

"Ahem!" he exclaimed from the doorway. "Can't you young people do enough spooning elsewhere? Consider my age and dignity and spare my blushes."

They turned to face him, Kenneth a trifle embarrassed, but Daphne laughing.

"Father," she said, "we are going to drive into town to-morrow, get a license, and be married."

"Just like that!" said Brainerd. "Let me sit down and get this clear. To-morrow, you said. I hope not before nine o'clock: I hate to get up too early." He looked them over. "Are you in on these arrangements?" he asked Kenneth, politely, "or are they the sole idea of my daughter?" But his scrutiny had inhibited any objections or adverse comment he may have intended to make. Brainerd had lived long and acquired wisdom in the process: and he knew a crisis when he saw it.

"That is Kenneth's business, not yours, sir," rejoined Daphne.

"I stand corrected. Then, I gather, no choir, no bridesmaids, no brass bands, no wedding dress?"