alliance so
coveted in the eyes of the world might, if she were left free, be
proffered.'"

"I should not have gathered from the postscript all that you see in it;
but had its purport been so suggested to me, you are right, I should
have so said. Well, and as Mr. Margrave tells me that you informed him
that I have a rival, I am now to conclude that the rival is Mr. Ashleigh
Sumner?"

"Has not Mrs. Ashleigh or Lilian mentioned him in writing to you?"

"Yes, both; Lilian very slightly, Mrs. Ashleigh with some praise, as a
young man of high character, and very courteous to her."

"Yet, though I asked you to come and tell me who were the guests at Lady
Haughton's, you never did so."

"Pardon me; but of the guests I thought nothing, and letters addressed
to my heart seemed to me too sacred to talk about. And Ashleigh Sumner
then courts Lilian! How do you know?"

"I know everything that concerns me; and here, the explanation is
simple. My aunt, Lady Delafield, is staying with Lady Haughton. Lady
Delafield is one of the women of fashion who shine by their own light;
Lady Haughton shines by borrowed light, and borrows every ray she can
find."

"And Lady Delafield writes you word--"

"That Ashleigh Sumner is caught by Lilian's beauty."

"And Lilian herself--"

"Women like Lady Delafield do not readily believe that any girl
could refuse Ashleigh Sumner; considered in himself, he is steady and
good-looking; considered as owner of Kirby Hall and Haughton Park, he
has, in the eyes of any sensible mother, the virtues of Cato and the
beauty of Antinous."

I pressed my hand to my heart; close to my heart lay a letter from
Lilian, and there was no word in that letter which showed that her heart
was gone from mine. I shook my head gently, and smiled in confiding
triumph.

Mrs. Poyntz surveyed me with a bent brow and a compressed lip.

"I understand your smile," she said ironically. "Very likely Lilian may
be quite untouched by this young man's admiration, but Anne Ashleigh may
be dazzled by so brilliant a prospect for her daughter; and, in short, I
thought it desirable to let your engagement be publicly known throughout
the town to-day. That information will travel; it will reach Ashleigh
Sumner through Mr. Vigors, or others in this neighbourhood, with whom I
know that he corresponds. It will bring affairs to a crisis, and before
it may be too late. I think it well that Ashleigh Sumner should leave
that house; if he le