the circumstance with the absence of the squire, and
then she reached the real solution of the position in a moment. "They
have gone to Up-Hill, of course. Father always goes the day before
Christmas; and Charlotte, no doubt, expected to find Steve at home. I
must tell Julius about Charlotte and Steve. Julius will not approve of
a young man like Steve in our family, and it ought not to be. I am sure
father and mother think so."

At this point in her reflections, she heard Charlotte enter her own
room, but she did not go to her. Sophia had a dislike to wet, untidy
people, and she was not in any particular flurry to tell her success.
Indeed, she was rather inclined to revel for an hour in the sense of it
belonging absolutely to Julius and herself. She was not one of those
impolitic women, who fancy that they double their happiness by imparting
it to others.

She determined to dress with extraordinary care. The occasion warranted
it, surely; for it was not only Christmas Eve, it was also her betrothal
eve. She put on her richest garment, a handsome gown of dark blue silk
and velvet. A spray of mistletoe-berries was in her black hair, and a
glittering necklace of fine sapphires enhanced the beauty and whiteness
of her exquisite neck and shoulders. She was delighted with the effect
of her own brave apparel, and also a little excited with the course
events had taken, or she never would have so far forgotten the
privileges of her elder birth as to visit Charlotte's room first on
such an important personal occasion.

Charlotte was still wrapped in her dressing-gown, lazily musing before
the crackling, blazing fire. Her hands were clasped above her head, her
feet comfortably extended upon the fender, her eyes closed. She had been
a little tired with buffeting the storm; and the hot tea, which Mrs.
Sandal had insisted upon as a preventative of cold, had made her, as she
told Sophia, "deliciously dozy."

"But dinner will be ready in half an hour, and you have to dress yet,
Charlotte. How do I look?"

"You look charming. How bright your eyes are, Sophia! I never saw you
look so well. How much Julius will admire you to-night!"

"As to that, Julius always admires me. He says he used to dream about
me, even before he saw me."

"Oh, you know that is nonsense! He couldn't do that. I dare say he
dreams about you now, though. I should think he would like to."

"You will have to hurry, Charlotte."

"I can dress in ten minutes if