ather
than winning it; tall, with superb form and carriage, rich olive
skin, large dark eyes, brilliant as diamonds and as cold, but which
could become luminous with tenderness or fiery with passion, as
occasion required. To those whom she sought to entertain she could
be extremely charming, but to a few even of these, gifted with deeper
insight than the others, it seemed that beneath that fascinating
manner was a dangerous nature, a will that would brook no restraint,
that never would be thwarted; and that this was, in reality, the
power which dominated Fair Oaks.

After years of mysterious seclusion, however, the beautiful home of
Hugh Mainwaring, while maintaining its usual reserve towards its
neighbors, had thrown open its doors to guests from across the water;
and on the particular afternoon of the conference in the private
offices of Mainwaring & Co., there might have been seen on one of
the upper balconies of the mansion at Fair Oaks a group of five
English ladies, engaged in a discussion of their first impressions
regarding their host and his American home. The group consisted of
Mrs. Ralph Mainwaring and her daughter Isabel; Miss Edith Thornton,
the daughter of William Mainwaring Thornton and the fiancee of Hugh
Mainwaring, Jr.; Miss Winifred Carleton, a cousin of Miss Thornton;
and Mrs. Hogarth, the chaperone of the last named young ladies.

Understanding, as they did, the occasion of this their first visit
to the western world, and being personally interested in the happy
event so soon to be celebrated, they naturally felt great interest
in their new surroundings. The young ladies were especially
enthusiastic in their expressions of admiration of the house and
grounds, while Mrs. Mainwaring, of even more phlegmatic temperament
than her husband, remarked that it was a fine old place, really much
finer than she expected to see, which was quite an admission on her
part.

"It is just as lovely as it can be!" said Winifred Carleton, coming
from the railing, where she had been watching the broad expanse of
ocean visible in the distance, and seating herself on a divan beside
her cousin. "I do think, Edith, you are the most fortunate girl in
the world, and I congratulate you with all my heart."

"Thank you, Winnie," replied Miss Thornton, a pronounced blonde
like her father, with large, childlike blue eyes; "but it will be
yours to enjoy as much as mine, for you will always be with me; at
least, till you ar