have had a dozen together in it many a time." She passed in under the
arch as she spoke, and the others followed her. There in her own way
which was not so very witty or wise, and yet was very charming, she held
her little court, and the three men who had been in love with her at the
beginning of the hour were still more in love at the end of it. And
Elizabeth who watched her with an admiration as deep as their's, if more
tranquil, did not wonder that it was so. Katie did not forget her, nor
did the gentlemen, or at least two of them, forget to be courteous, but
if she had known what became of the spray of clematis which being in the
way as she turned her head, she had soon unfastened and let slip to the
ground, she would not have wondered, nor would she have cared. If she
had seen Archdale's heel crush it unheedingly as he passed out of the
arbor, the beat of her pulses would never have varied.




CHAPTER V.

ANTICIPATIONS.


It was early in December. The months had brought serious changes to all
but one of the group that the August morning had found in Mr. Archdale's
garden. Two had disappeared from the scene of their defeat, and to two
of them the future seemed opening up vistas of happiness as deep as the
present joy. Elizabeth Royal alone was a spectator in the events of the
past months, and even in her mind was a questioning that was at least
wonderment, if not pain.