nother man; I don't like you to disappoint me."

The happiness of hearing her say those words transfigured him--the
manly beauty of his earlier and happier years seemed to have returned to
Alban. He took her hand--he was too agitated to speak.

"You are forgetting Mr. Mirabel," she reminded him gently.

"I will be all that is civil and kind to Mr. Mirabel; I will like him
and admire him as you do. Oh, Emily, are you a little, only a very
little, fond of me?"

"I don't quite know."

"May I try to find out?"

"How?" she asked.

Her fair cheek was very near to him. The softly-rising color on it said,
Answer me here--and he answered.

CHAPTER XLV. MISCHIEF--MAKING.

On Monday, Mirabel made his appearance--and the demon of discord
returned with him.

Alban had employed the earlier part of the day in making a sketch in the
park--intended as a little present for Emily. Presenting himself in the
drawing-room, when his work was completed, he found Cecilia and Francine
alone. He asked where Emily was.

The question had been addressed to Cecilia. Francine answered it.

"Emily mustn't be disturbed," she said.

"Why not?"

"She is with Mr. Mirabel in the rose garden. I saw them talking
together--evidently feeling the deepest interest in what they were
saying to each other. Don't interrupt them--you will only be in the
way."

Cecilia at once protested against this last assertion. "She is trying
to make mischief, Mr. Morris--don't believe her. I am sure they will be
glad to see you, if you join them in the garden."

Francine rose, and left the room. She turned, and looked at Alban as she
opened the door. "Try it," she said--"and you will find I am right."

"Francine sometimes talks in a very ill-natured way," Cecilia gently
remarked. "Do you think she means it, Mr. Morris?'

"I had better not offer an opinion," Alban replied.

"Why?"

"I can't speak impartially; I dislike Miss de Sor."

There was a pause. Alban's sense of self-respect forbade him to try the
experiment which Francine had maliciously suggested. His thoughts--less
easy to restrain--wandered in the direction of the garden. The attempt
to make him jealous had failed; but he was conscious, at the same time,
that Emily had disappointed him. After what they had said to each other
in the park, she ought to have remembered that women are at the mercy of
appearances. If Mirabel had something of importance to say to her,
she might have avoided ex