drobe suitable to the daughters of Lord Earle.

Mrs. Vyvian had two rooms near her charges. Knowing that some months
might elapse before Ronald returned, Lady Helena settled upon a course
of action. The young girls were to be kept in seclusion, and not to be
introduced to the gay world, seeing only a few old friends of the
family; they were to continue to study for a few hours every morning,
to drive or walk with Lady Earle after luncheon, to join her at the
seven o'clock dinner, and to pass the evening in the drawing room.

It was a new and delightful life. Beatrice reveled in the luxury and
grandeur that surrounded her. She amused Lady Earle by her vivacious
description of the quiet home at the Elms.

"I feel at home here," she said, "and I never did there. At times I
wake up, half dreading to hear the rustling of the tall elm trees, and
old Mrs. Thorne's voice asking about the cows. Poor mamma! I can not
understand her taste."

When they became more accustomed to the new life, the strange
incongruity in their family struck them both. On one side a grand old
race, intermarried with some of the noblest families in England--a
stately house, title, wealth, rank, and position; on the other a simple
farmer and his homely wife, the plain old homestead, and complete
isolation from all they considered society.

How could it be? How came it that their father was lord of Earlescourt
and their mother the daughter of a plain country farmer? For the first
time it struck them both that there was some mystery in the life of
their parents. Both grew more shy of speaking of the Elms, feeling
with the keen instinct peculiar to youth that there was something
unnatural in their position.

Visitors came occasionally to Earlescourt. Sir Harry and Lady Laurence
of Holtham often called; Lady Charteris came from Greenoke, and all
warmly admired the lovely daughters of Lord Earle.

Beatrice, with her brilliant beauty, her magnificent voice, and gay,
graceful manner, was certainly the favorite. Sir Harry declared she
was the finest rider in the county.

There was an unusual stir of preparation once when Lady Earle told them
that the daughter of her devoted friend, Lady Charteris, was coming to
spend a few days at Earlescourt. Then, for the first time, they saw
the beautiful and stately lady whose fate was so strangely interwoven
with theirs.

Valentine Charteris was no longer "the queen of the county." Prince di
Bergezi