wish to have you for a little while to
myself?' he asked, and, putting his arm round her shoulders, took the
kiss she could not deny him, though she almost immediately drew herself
away.

'Do come up to the drawing-room. Why should we stay down here? Don't you
think it rather silly?'

'I don't care whether it is silly or not,' he answered daringly. 'I
don't mean to go up, or allow you to leave this room, for a good half
hour at least.'

Gladys laughed a little, and dropped on one knee on a stool before the
quaint fireplace, where the logs burned and crackled in a cheerful
blaze.

'And I have a crow to pick with you, madam,' said the lover, made bolder
by the perfect freedom of the girl's demeanour. 'I don't like
second-hand messages. You might at least have sent me a nice little note
by the hand of Aunt Isabel this afternoon.'

'I didn't think of it, or I might,' answered Gladys quite soberly, and
the ruddy firelight lay warm and bright on her sweet face, and gave a
deeper tinge to the gold of her hair. As George Fordyce stood as near to
her as he dared, being deterred by a certain high dignity in her
bearing, he was struck, not only by the perfect beauty of her features,
but by the singular firmness mingling with the archness of her look.
Twelve months had done a great deal for Gladys, and there was nothing of
the child left, though the new womanliness was a most gracious and
lovely thing.

'I had such a busy morning down town; and oh, I have a great deal to
tell you, only you must promise to be sympathetic, because I have had a
great deal to bear to-day, and have almost quarrelled with your aunt and
the girls.'

'Yes?' he said, with all the fine indifference he could command. 'And
what was it all about?'

He knew it must come sooner or later, and braced himself up to carry
matters through with as high a hand as possible.

'About that poor girl of whom I told you, Lizzie Hepburn. She has come
back, looking so very ill and unhappy, and of course I asked her down to
Bourhill, and your aunt and cousins are so vexed about it, I am quite
puzzled. It is so unlike them to blame one for wishing to be kind.
Please, can you explain it?'

She raised her eyes to his face with something of the old child-like
wistfulness in their depths, and it showed George Fordyce to be a very
clever man indeed that he was able to meet that clear gaze without
flinching.

'Well, you see, dear, I think it is regard for you which made