“I don’t know how to tell you,” she said again.

“Maybe I can guess,” said Jake.

“Ah!” she said, and laid her face down quickly on his sleeve.

He laid his free hand on her head.  “It’s Bunny, is it?” he said.

She answered him quiveringly.  “Yes, it’s—­it’s Bunny.”

“Well?” said Jake gently.

She spoke with her face still hidden.  “You don’t want me to marry him, do you?  I won’t do it either—­without your permission.”

“Mine!” said Jake.

“Yes.”  Her words came rapidly.  “You love Bunny.  You know what’s best for him.  You want him to have the best.”

Jake’s hand caressed her bent head.  “Well,” he said, after a moment.  “I guess that’s so.  But—­I’ve come to love you in the same way.  I’d like you to have the best too.”

She lifted her head and looked at him.  “You’d like me to have Bunny?  Do you mean that?”

“If it’s going to make you both happy,” said Jake.

“Ah!” she caught her breath sharply.  “But no one can be sure of that, can they?  I mean, marriage is such a speculation, isn’t it?  I expect Bunny will soon get tired of me.”

“Why do you say that?” said Jake.

A little quiver went through her.  “I don’t know.  Men are like that, aren’t they?  Not men like you of course, but you’re the big exception to almost every rule.”

Jake was frowning a little.  “I guess I’m as human as the rest of ’em,” he said.  “But what makes you think Bunny isn’t a stayer?”

“He’s so young,” said Toby.

“That all?” said Jake, beginning to smile.

She looked at him rather wistfully.  “Yes, but it counts, Jake.  He’ll be a man some day, but he isn’t yet—­at least only in streaks.”

“Well, there’s no hurry, is there?” said Jake.  “People shouldn’t marry in haste.”

Toby’s eyes flashed sudden accusation.  “You did!”

“I!” Jake looked momentarily disconcerted.  “Well, I had some excuse.  What do you know about it anyway?”

“I know what Bunny told me.  Maud didn’t love you when she married you.  It didn’t come on till afterwards.  She loved Lord Saltash, and he loved her.”  Toby spoke with a certain hardness, as if challenging contradiction.  “She’d have married him—­but for you.”

Jake met the challenge squarely.  “Quite possibly she would.  Think she’d have been any happier?”

Toby shook her head.  “No.  I think you were always meant to be her man.  But it—­it was rather hard on him.”  Her voice trembled a little.  “Bunny says that was why he never married.”

“He’s not the marrying sort,” said Jake.  “I don’t mind your marrying Bunny, but nothing on this earth would persuade me to let you marry him.”

An odd little smile twitched the corners of Toby’s mouth.  “No?  Well, I shouldn’t consult you about that,” she said.  “Sure you don’t mind my marrying Bunny?”

Jake looked at her.  “Not if you’re sure you want to,” he said.