ing to the cowslip--at Copsley. The invitation could not
be accepted, but the next day Diana sent word that she had a surprise
for the following Sunday, and would bring a friend to lunch, if Sir
Lukin would meet them at the corner of the road in the valley leading up
to the heights, at a stated hour.

Lady Dunstane gave the listless baronet his directions, observing: 'It's
odd, she never will come alone since her marriage.'

'Queer,' said he of the serenest absence of conscience; and that there
must be something not entirely right going on, he strongly inclined to
think.

CHAPTER VII. THE CRISIS

It was a confirmed suspicion when he beheld Lord Dannisburgh on the box
of a four-in-hand, and the peerless Diana beside him, cockaded lackeys
in plain livery and the lady's maid to the rear. But Lord Dannisburgh's
visit was a compliment, and the freak of his driving down under the
beams of Aurora on a sober Sunday morning capital fun; so with a gaiety
that was kept alive for the invalid Emma to partake of it, they rattled
away to the heights, and climbed them, and Diana rushed to the arms of
her friend, whispering and cooing for pardon if she startled her, guilty
of a little whiff of blarney:--Lord Dannisburgh wanted so much to be
introduced to her, and she so much wanted her to know him, and she hoped
to be graciously excused for thus bringing them together, 'that she
might be chorus to them!' Chorus was a pretty fiction on the part of
the thrilling and topping voice. She was the very radiant Diana of her
earliest opening day, both in look and speech, a queenly comrade, and
a spirit leaping and shining like a mountain water. She did not seduce,
she ravished. The judgement was taken captive and flowed with her. As
to the prank of the visit, Emma heartily enjoyed it and hugged it for
a holiday of her own, and doating on the beautiful, darkeyed, fresh
creature, who bore the name of the divine Huntress, she thought her
a true Dian in stature, step, and attributes, the genius of
laughter superadded. None else on earth so sweetly laughed, none
so spontaneously, victoriously provoked the healthful openness. Her
delicious chatter, and her museful sparkle in listening, equally
quickened every sense of life. Adorable as she was to her friend Emma
at all times, she that day struck a new fountain in memory. And it was
pleasant to see the great lord's admiration of this wonder. One could
firmly believe in their friendship, and h