y that Mrs.
Stokes, during their long _tete-a-tete_ that day, had divulged the plots
for her wooing and wedding. How far wide of the mark these conjectures
were he would learn by and by. Meanwhile, as the effect of the unknown
magic was to make her gayer, more confident, and more interested in
passing events, he was well pleased. His preference was for sweet
acquiescence in women, but, for an exception, he liked his granddaughter
best when she was least afraid of him.

CHAPTER XXII.

_PRELIMINARIES._

Mr. Cecil Burleigh met Bessie Fairfax again with a courteous vivacity
and an air of intimate acquaintance. If he was not very glad to see her
he affected gladness well, and Bessie's vivid blushes were all the
welcome that was necessary to delude the witnesses into a belief that
they already understood one another. He was perfectly satisfied
himself, and his sister Mary, who worshipped him, thought Bessie sweetly
modest and pretty. And her mind was at peace for the results.

There was a dinner-party at Abbotsmead that evening. Colonel and Mrs.
Stokes came, and Mr. Forbes and his mother, who lived with him (for he
was unmarried), a most agreeable old lady. It was much like other
dinner-parties in the country. The guests were all of one mind on
politics and the paramount importance of the landed interest, which gave
a delightful unanimity to the conversation. The table was round, so that
Miss Fairfax did not appear conspicuous as the lady of the house, but
she was not for that the less critically observed. Happily, she was
unconscious of the ordeal she underwent. She looked lovely in the face,
but her dress was not the elaborate dress of the other ladies; it was
still her prize-day white muslin, high to the throat and long to the
wrists, with a red rose in her belt, and an antique Normandy gold cross
for her sole ornament. The cross was a gift from Madame Fournier. Mr.
Cecil Burleigh, being seated next to her, was most condescending in his
efforts to be entertaining, and Bessie was not quite so uneasy under his
affability as she had been on board the yacht. Mrs. Stokes, who had
heard much of the Tory candidate, but now met him for the first time,
regarded him with awe, impressed by his distinguished air and fine
manners. But Bessie was more diffident than impressed. She did not talk
much; everybody else was so willing to talk that it was enough for her
to look charming. Once or twice her grandfather glanced toward