as
that tall and fair-haired girl slowly descending the stairs. In the
midst of his tumultuous feeling a trivial thought occurred to him: "I
am shot through the heart by the blind archer," he said to himself; and
he no longer laughed at the old-fashioned symbol of the sudden and
fatal power of love.

But with all this tumult of joy in the senses waking up to their
allegiance, there came a certain reserve. The goddess-like creature who
had so suddenly become the mistress of his soul was a very serious
personage to confront in her new majesty. He did not follow the impulse
of his heart and rush forward as she entered the room. He merely rose
and bowed. She made the faintest possible salutation, and, without
taking a seat, conveyed her mother's excuses in a tone of such studied
coldness that it amused Farnham, who took it as a school-girl's
assumption of a grand and ceremonious manner suitable to a tete-a-tete
with man.

"Thank you," he said, "but I did not come especially to see your
mother. My object was rather to see you." She did not smile or reply,
and he went on, with a slight sensation of chill coming upon him from
this stony dignity, which, the more he observed it, seemed less and
less amusing and not at all artificial. "I came to ask if you would not
like to go to ride this afternoon. It is just gray enough for comfort."

"I thank you very much for being so kind as to think of me," she
replied, "but it will not be convenient for me to go."

"Perhaps the morning will suit better. I will come to-morrow at any
hour you say."

"I shall not be able to go to-morrow either, I think."

Even while exchanging these few words, Alice felt herself growing
slightly embarrassed, and it filled her with dismay. "I am a poor
creature," she thought, "if I cannot get this self-satisfied gentleman
out of the house without breaking down. I can't stand here forever
though," and so she took a seat, and as Arthur resumed his willow chair
with an air of content, she could not but feel that as yet the skirmish
was not in her favor. She called her angry spirit to her aid, and
nerved herself to say something which would promptly close the
interview.

His next words gave her the opportunity.

"But you surely do not intend to give up riding altogether?"

"Certainly not. I hope to ride a good deal. Andrews will go with me."

"Ah! Your objection to me as a groom is entirely personal, then."

"Now for it!" she thought to herself, an