ains. He says this, too,
hesitatingly, as though half afraid to demand so great a boon.

"Yes; I think I should like to kiss you," says Georgie, kindly; and
then she raises herself from his embrace, and, standing on tiptoe,
places both hands upon his shoulders, and with the utmost calmness
lays her lips on his.

"Do you know," she says, a moment later, in no wise disconcerted
because of the warmth of the caress he has given her in exchange for
hers,--"do you know, I never remember kissing any one in all my life
before, except poor papa, and Clarissa, and you."

Even at this avowal she does not blush. Were he her brother, or an
aged nurse, she could scarcely think less about the favor she has just
conferred upon the man who is standing silently regarding her, puzzled
and disappointed truly, but earnestly registering a vow that sooner or
later, if faithful love can accomplish it, he will make her all his
own, in heart and soul.

Not that he has ever yet gone so deeply into the matter as to tell
himself the love is all on his own side. Instinctively he shrinks from
such inward confession. It is only when he has parted from her, and is
riding quietly homeward through the wistful gloaming, that he
remembers, with a pang, how, of all the thousand and one things asked
and answered, one alone has been forgotten. He has never desired of
her whether she loves him.

CHAPTER XXV.

"Love set me up on high: when I grew vain
Of that my height, love brought me down again.

* * * * *

"The heart of love is with a thousand woes
Pierced, which secure indifference never knows.

* * * * *

"The rose aye wears the silent thorn at heart,
And never yet might pain for love depart."--TRENCH.

When Mrs. Redmond, next morning, is made aware of Georgie's engagement
to Dorian Branscombe, her curiosity and excitement know no bounds. For
once she is literally struck dumb with amazement. That Dorian, who is
heir to an earldom, should have fixed his affections upon _her_
governess, seems to Mrs. Redmond like a gay continuation of the
"Arabian Nights' Entertainments." When she recovers her breath, after
the first great shock to her nervous system, she lays down the
inevitable sock she is mending, and says as follows:

"My dear Georgina, are you quite sure he meant it? Young men,
nowadays, say so many things without exactly knowing why,--more
especially afte