eat affection for Aubrey Langton was also known. More
than one of the guests present guessed at the arrangement made, and said
that in all probability Miss Darrell would marry the captain, and that
they would have the Court after Sir Oswald's death.

The banquet was certainly a magnificent one. The guests did full justice
to the costly wines, the rare and beautiful fruits, the _recherche_
dishes prepared with so much skill and labor. When supper was ended, the
dancers returned to the ball-room, but Miss Darrell was already rather
weary of it all.

She stole away during the first dance after supper. The lamps were
lighted in the conservatory, and shed a soft, pearly light over the
fragrant flowers; the great glass doors at the end were open, and beyond
lay the moonlight, soft, sweet, and silvery, steeping the flowers, the
trees, and the long grass in its mild light. Without, all was so calm,
so still; there was the evening sky with its myriad stars, so calm and
so serene; close to the doors stood great sheaves of white lilies, and
just inside was a nest of fragrant daphnes and jessamines.

Pauline stood lost in delight; the perfume seemed to float in from the
moonlight and infold her. This quiet, holy, tranquil beauty touched her
heart as the splendor of the ball-room could not; her soul grew calm and
still; she seemed nearer happiness than she had ever been before.

"How beautiful the world is!" she thought. She raised her face, so
serenely placid and fair in the moonlight; the silver radiance fell upon
it, adding all that was needed to make it perfect, a blended softness
and tenderness. The gorgeous, golden-hued dress falling around her,
glistened, gleamed, and glowed; her diamonds shone like flames. No
artist ever dreamed of a fairer picture than this girl in the midst of
the moonlight and the flowers.

Bright fancies thronged her mind. She thought of the time when she
should be mistress of that rich domain. No mercenary delight made her
heart thrill; it was not the prospect of being rich that delighted her;
it was a nobler pride--delight in the grand old home where heroes had
lived and died, earnest thoughts of how she would care for it, how she
would love it as some living thing when it should be her own.

Her own! Verily her lines were cast in pleasant places! She dreamed
great things--of the worthy deeds she would do, of the noble charities
she would carry out, the magnificent designs she would bring to
matu