w, the desolation of her wounded heart,
and the longing for home and rest, were too much for her frail strength,
and she had swooned, even while he thought she was consenting to be his
wife.

He sprang to the bell and rang for assistance, then gathering her in his
arms, he gently laid her upon a sofa, just as the door opened and Mrs.
Mencke entered.

"I am afraid that I have overtaxed her strength," Lord Cameron said, in
a tone of self-reproach, as he lifted a rueful face to her.

"Have you won?" she asked, eagerly.

"I think so, but----"

Mrs. Mencke waited for nothing more.

"She will soon recover from this," she interrupted, a triumphant ring in
her tone, as she began to sprinkle Violet's face with water from a
tumbler which she seized from a table. "Leave her with me now, and I
will call you again when she is better."

The young girl was already beginning to revive, and fearing that his
presence might agitate her again, Lord Cameron stole softly from the
room, but looking strangely sad for a man who believed he had prospered
in his wooing.

"You are better, Violet," Mrs. Mencke said, with unwonted tenderness, as
her sister opened her eyes and looked around the room as if in search of
some one.

She brought a glass of wine to her, and putting it to her lips, bade her
drink.

She obeyed, and the stimulating beverage soon began to warm her blood
and restore her strength.

"Has he gone?" she asked, glancing toward the door.

"Lord Cameron? Yes; he thought you had had excitement enough for one
day, and as soon as you began to come to yourself he stole away. Do you
wish me to call him back?" her sister inquired, regarding her curiously.

"No," but there was a perplexed look upon her fair face.

"He tells me that you are going to make him happy, Vio," pursued her
sister, anxious to learn just how matters stood, "that you will marry
him. I am delighted, dear, and I know that he will do all in his power
to make your life a perfect one."

"Did he tell you that? Did I promise?" Violet cried, with a startled
look and putting her hand to her head in a dazed way.

"Violet Huntington! what a strange child you are! Here you have just
given a man to understand that you have accepted him and yet, when you
are congratulated upon the fact, you affect not to know what you have
done!" cried Mrs. Mencke, pretending to be entirely out of patience with
her.

She meant to carry things with a high hand now. She saw that