e same--he's always a very kind gentleman," quoth
Parker, remembering the half-crowns that Hubert had many a time bestowed
on her.

"Fair, isn't he?" said Mr. Dare. "That was my Mr. Lepel--fair and short
and stout and a nice little wife and family----"

"Oh, dear, no--that isn't our Mr. Lepel!" said Parker, with disdain.
"He's tall and very dark and thin; and, as to being married, he's
engaged to Miss Vane of Beechfield Hall, or as good as engaged, I know;
and they're to be married when she's out of her teens, because the
General, her uncle, won't consent to it before."

"Ah," said the stranger, "you're right; that's not the gentleman I know.
Engaged, is he? And very fond of the young lady, I suppose?"

"Worships the very ground she treads upon!" said Parker. She would have
thought it _infra dig._ to allow for one moment that Miss Enid did not
meet with her deserts in the way of adoration. "He's always coming down
here to see her. And she the same! I don't think they could be happy
apart. He's just devoted!"

"And that," said Reuben Dare to himself, "is the man who makes my girl
believe that he is fond of her!"

CHAPTER XXXI.

Hubert was sadly puzzled by Cynthia's manner to him at this time. She
seemed to have lost her bright spirits; she was grave and even
depressed; now and then she manifested a sort of coldness which he felt
that he did not understand. Was this the effect of his confession to her
that he had pledged his faith before he lost his heart? She had shown no
such coldness when he told her first; but perhaps reflection had changed
her tone. He began by trying to treat her ceremoniously in return; but
he found it a difficult task. He had never been on very ceremonious
terms at all with her, and to begin them now, when she had acknowledged
that she loved him and he had kissed her ripe red lips--he said to
himself that it was absurd.

He did not cease his visits to Madame della Scala's house, nor try to
set up an artificial barrier between himself and his love. Why then
should she? He would not have this coldness, this conventionality of
demeanor, he told himself; and yet he hardly knew how to beat it down.
For he certainly had no right to demand that she should treat him as her
lover when he was engaged--or half engaged--to marry Enid Vane.

He came one evening in May, and found her on the point of starting for a
_soiree_ where she was to sing. She was _en grande tenue_ for the
occasion, dre