This
light and airy tone was a new one for the Professor to take.
Instead of being angry, he seemed to be unusually gay, and
looked at them in quite a jocular manner for a dry-as-dust
scientist.
"We waited dinner for her, father," ventured Lucy timidly.
"Then I am ready to eat it," announced Braddock. "I am extremely
hungry, my dear. I can't live on love, you know."
"Live on love?" Lucy stared, and Archie laughed quietly.
"Oh yes, you may smile and look astonished;" went on the
Professor good-humoredly, "but science does not destroy the
primeval instincts entirely. Lucy, my dear," he took her hand
and patted it, "while in London and in lodgings, it was borne in
upon me forcibly how lonely I was and how lonely I would be when
you married our young friend yonder. I had intended to come down
to-morrow, but to-night, such was my feeling of loneliness that I
considered favorably your idea that I should find a second
helpmate in Mrs. Jasher. I have always had a profound admiration
for that lady, and so--on the spur of the moment, as I may say--
I decided to come down this evening and propose."
"Oh," Lucy clapped her hands, very well satisfied with the
unexpected news, "and have you?"
"Mrs.
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