t arrived when the last carriage
rolled away, and the family at Earlescourt were left alone. Lady Earle
asked the two young girls to go into her room for half an hour to "talk
over the ball." Lionel, sorry the evening was over, retired to his
room; then Hubert Airlie went to Lord Earle and asked if he might speak
with him for ten minutes.

"Will it not do tomorrow?" inquired Ronald, smiling, as he held up his
watch. "See, it is past three o'clock."

"No," replied Lord Airlie; "I could not pass another night in suspense."

"Come with me, then," said the master of Earlescourt, as he led the way
to the library, where the lamps were still alight.

"Now, what is it?" he asked, good-humoredly, turning to the excited,
anxious lover.

"Perhaps I ought to study my words," said Lord Airlie; "but I can not.
Lord Earle, I love your daughter Beatrice. Will you give her to me to
be my wife?"

"Sooner than to any one else in the world," replied Ronald. "Is she
willing?"

"I think so," was the answer, Lord Airlie's heart thrilling with
happiness as he remembered her words.

"Let us see," said Lord Earle. He rang the bell, and sent for his
daughter.

Lord Airlie never forgot the beautiful, blushing face half turned from
him as Beatrice entered the room.

"Beatrice," said her father, clasping her in his arms, "is this true?
Am I to give you to Lord Airlie?"

"If you please, papa," she whispered.

"I do please," he cried. "Hubert, I give you a treasure beyond all
price. You may judge of my daughter's love from her own word. I know
it has never been given to any one but you. You are my daughter's
first lover, and her first love. You may take her to your heart, well
satisfied that she has never cared for any one else. It is true,
Beatrice, is it not?"

"Yes," she said, faltering for a moment as, for the first time, she
remembered Hugh.

"Tomorrow," continued Lord Earle, "we will talk of the future; we are
all tired tonight. You will sleep in peace, Airlie, I suppose?"

"If I sleep at all," he replied.

"Well, you understand clearly that, had the choice rested with me I
should have selected you from all others to take charge of my
Beatrice," said Lord Earle. "Do not wait to thank me. I have a faint
idea of how much a grateful lover has to say. Good night."

* * * * *

"What is it, Beatrice?" asked Lillian, as the two sisters stood alone
in the bright little dressing room.