e
days of Eve. "What is it that makes the difference, the yawning,
illimitable difference between just one person and all the rest of the
world? Why do we love each other like this? You have seen hundreds of
girls, but you have never wished to marry one. Men have loved me, and I
hated them the moment they began to make love. But you--if _you_
hadn't!--Robert, what should I have done? I should have lived on--I am
so strong, but my heart would have died; there would have been nothing
left. And a fortnight ago we had not met! People will say that it is
madness, that we cannot know our own minds; but the marvel of it is--we
knew at once! I was frightened, and ran away, but I knew; deep down in
my heart I knew that you would follow. Tell me when _you_ began to
know--the very first moment!"

And then Robert retold the story to which Vanna had listened on the
night of the ball, with the thrilling addition of the encounter in the
conservatory, and Jean listened, thrilled, and trembling with agitation.

"Yes, it is true. I was waiting for you. It was meant to be. We were
made to meet and love each other."

"From the beginning of the world, my Rose, my Treasure!" said Robert
Gloucester.

CHAPTER TEN.

THE WEDDING DAY.

Jean Goring and Robert Gloucester were married in the early days of
October, after a bare three months' engagement. They themselves found
the period one of ideal happiness, but, as is usually the case, it was
somewhat trying to their relations and friends. Jean, in her gay young
beauty, had filled the centre of the stage for many friends, who were
bound to suffer when the light shone no more upon them, and Jean had
neither eyes, ears, nor heart for any one but her _fiance_. Mr Goring
gave his consent to the engagement with a readiness which was largely
based upon the affection which his prospective son-in-law had already
awakened.

"He's a splendid fellow--a man in a thousand. Thank Heaven you've
chosen a man who won't bore me to death hanging about the house. It's a
poor match in a worldly sense, but that's your affair. You had chances
of rich men before now, and wouldn't look at them. I believe in letting
people live their own lives, in their own way. I'll give you a good
trousseau, and allow you two hundred a year; but I can't do more.
There's the boys' education coming on."

"Oh, thank you, father. That's sweet of you. I never expected so much.
We shall be poor, of course,