2
BERNARD THRING stood for a moment at the gate with his hand upon the latch. It was to be the most momentous interview of his life. In five minutes he was to be delirious with happiness or so miserable that he did not dare to think ahead. He knew that he was greatly daring. He loved Kathleen Warren with all that was in him, and he had no right to love her! What Foreign Office clerk with next to nothing beyond his pay as a junior had the right to love any girl? But it had come to this, that he had proposed and been accepted, and she was waiting upstairs for the verdict of her father. He must go through with it.
At that hour he knew that Mr. Warren would be at home, and he went up the carriage drive with the faltering confidence of one who is leading an assault upon a well-defended strong
