aid 'Yes.'"

"Well, that meant he had proposed. You know, Guy, I had told you he
would: I saw it in his eye. So I observed, in a moment, he HAD, and I
said 'Yes.'"

"Then why doesn't she come down to dinner?"

"He has upset her. It is the old story: he cried to her, and told her he
had been wild, and misconducted himself, all because he had never met
a woman he could really love and respect; and then he begged her, and
implored her, and said his fate depended on her."

"But she was not caught with that chaff; so why does she not come and
receive the congratulations of the company on her escape?"

"Because she is far too delicate;" then, turning to her son, "and
perhaps, because she can't help comparing the manly warmth and loving
appreciation of Mr. Richard Raby, with the cold indifference and
ingratitude of others."

"Oh," said Henry, coloring, "if that is her feeling, she will accept him
next time."

"Next time!" roared Raby. "There shall be no next time. I have given the
scamp fair play, quite against my own judgment. He has got his answer
now, and I won't have the girl tormented with him any more. I trust that
to you, Edith."

Mrs. Little promised him Dick and Jael should not meet again, in Raby
Hall at least.

That evening she drew her son apart and made an earnest appeal to him.

"So much for her spite against you, Henry. You told her to decline
Richard Raby, and so she declined him. Spite, indeed! The gentle pique
of a lovely, good girl, who knows her value, though she is too modest
to show it openly. Well, Henry, you have lost her a husband, and she
has given you one more proof of affection. Don't build the mountain of
ingratitude any higher: do pray take the cure that offers, and make
your mother happy, as well as yourself, my son." In this strain she
continued, and used all her art, her influence, her affection, till at
last, with a weary, heart-broken sigh, he yielded as far as this: he
said that, if it could once be made clear to him there was no hope of
his ever marrying Grace Carden he would wed Jael Dence at once.

Then he ordered his trap, and drove sullenly home, while Mrs. Little,
full of delight, communicated her triumph to Jael Dence, and told her
about the five thousand pounds, and was as enthusiastic in praise of
Henry to Jael, as she had been of Jael to Henry.

Meantime he drove back to Hillsborough, more unhappy than ever, and
bitter against himself for yielding, even so far, to gr