Doubts of the wisdom of the way this child of mine had been
reared were going over and over in my mind. I had indeed aimed to make
her the finely elemental thing which I conceived a real woman to be;
but I found with some perturbation of spirit that the plan would have
served better for the general happiness if the men with whom she had to
deal had been less accustomed to the conventional woman. They were
forever drawing conclusions from her actions which would have held with
sound logic had they been applied to any other woman, but with Nancy
they were frequently as little to the point as if they had been drawn
from the conduct of a Chinese lady.

Thinking these things over, I came by the group of pear-trees, at which
point I heard voices on the other side of the wall, and raising myself
in the stirrups looked over into the garden.

It was a sunny, warm corner, and a low table, with some chairs, had
been placed there, together with a basket of lace-work which Nancy had
evidently been overlooking. She was not to be seen, however, although
her flowered hat hung on the back of a chair near by.

Sitting before the table was Danvers Carmichael, the cards spread
before him, making a solitaire, and at a little distance, holding the
bridle of his gray horse, stood the Duke of Borthwicke, who, I judge,
had interrupted by his entrance a morning talk between Danvers and
Nancy. There was a peculiar gleam in the eyes of Montrose, and a jaunty
self-possession which became him well, as he stood and looked down at
the man whose temper he had surely tried to the breaking point.

"'Tis a lonesome game you play, Mr. Carmichael," he said, with a
significance in his tone which the printed words can not convey.

"There are times when I prefer lonesomeness to the only company
available," Danvers returned, and he raised his eyes from the cards and
looked Montrose full in the eye as he said it.

"Ah," the duke murmured, and there was a shadow of a smile around his
lips, "'tis fortunate to be so pliable. For myself I prefer to play a
game with a partner. In fact, the solitariness of my life has been such
that I have thought to change it. To be frank with you, I am thinking
of marriage."

"The Three Kingdoms will be interested," Danvers returned suavely.

Again the duke smiled. "You compliment me," he said, with a bow. "It
all depends on the lady now. There is for me no longer any power of
choice; for I think none could see her but to lo