"And we shall see you at tea, on Saturday?" asked Mrs. Tremont.

"I shall be delighted," he answered: "thank you for persuading Miss
Moore to stay over for another week." Mrs. Tremont smiled, she could
smile if she were on the rack; but she assured herself that she was
done with poverty-stricken beauties till Grace and Maud were married,
at least. For years she had been planning a match between Grace and
Lennox Sanderson.

Anna and Sanderson exchanged looks. Robert Maynard bit his lips and
turned away. He realized that the dearest wish of his life was beyond
reach of it forever. "Ah, well," he murmured to himself--"who could
have a chance against Lennox Sanderson?"




CHAPTER II.

THE CONQUERING HERO IS DISPOSED TO BE HUMAN.


"Her lips are roses over-wash'd with dew,
Or like the purple of narcissus' flower;
No frost their fair, no wind doth waste their powers,
But by her breath her beauties do renew."--_Robert Greene_.


The dusk of an autumn afternoon was closing in on the well-filled