ad
done for years.

"Are you sure she cares for you, Ralph? I have seen nothing to suggest
the idea."

"I think, indeed I am quite certain that she does not like any one else
near so much," answered the young man, reluctant to compromise Lina's
delicacy by a broader confession.

"Young men are always confident," said the General with a bland smile.
"I think that faith in woman was the first delusion that I gave up.
Still it is pleasant while it lasts. Heaven forbid that I should brush
the bloom from your grapes, my boy. So you really think that mamma's
little protege knows her own mind, and that my son knows his?"

A pang came to the ardent heart of the youth as he listened. Another
golden thread snapped under the cold-blooded worldliness of that crafty
old man.

General Harrington looked in his face, and analyzed the play of those
handsome features, exactly as he had tasted the game-birds and champagne
a half hour before. The same relish was in both enjoyments, only one was
the epicureanism of a mind that found pleasure in dissecting a young
heart, and the other, quite as important to him, was a delicious
sensuality.

And Ralph stood under this scrutiny with a cloud on his fine brow and a
faint quiver of the lip. It was agony to think of Lina without perfect
confidence in her affection for himself. Yet he was so young, and his
father had seen so much. If he found no evidence of Lina's attachment to
himself, it might be that all was a delusion.

The old man read these thoughts, and took upon himself a gentle air of
composure.

"These things often happen when young people are thrown together in the
same house, Ralph. It is a pleasant dream. Both parties wake up, and
there is no harm done. Don't take the thing to heart, it isn't worth
while."

"Then you think, sir, she really does not care for me?"

With all his worldliness, the old man could hardly withstand the appeal
of those magnificent eyes, for Ralph possessed the beautiful charm of
deep feeling, without a particle of self-conceit. He began to wonder how
Lina ever could have fancied him, and to grieve over the delusion.

"It is strange," said the General, as if musing with himself, "it is
strange, but these very young creatures seldom do give their first
preferences to persons of corresponding age. Girls love to look up to
men with reverence. It is really wonderful."

The young man started, fire flashed into his eyes, and for an instant he
was breat