etiquette, or why fashionable ladies generally spoke of it with a
sneer.

"Do you laugh at sentiment?" he asked; and Valentine opened her
fine eyes in wonder at the question. Lady Earle half overheard
it, and smiled in great satisfaction. Matters must be going on
well, she thought, if Ronald had already begun to speak of
sentiment. She never thought that his heart and mind were with
Dora while he spoke--pretty Dora, who cried over his poetry, and
devoutly believed in the language of flowers.

The evening passed rapidly, and Ronald felt something like regret
when it ended. Lady Earle was too wise to make any comments; she
never asked her son if he liked Valentine or what he thought of
her.

"I am afraid you are tired," she said, with a charming smile;
"thank you for helping to amuse my friends."

When Ronald thought over what he had done, his share seemed very
small; still his mother was pleased, and he went to rest resolved
that on the morrow he would be doubly attentive to Miss
Charteris.

Three days passed, and Ronald had grown quite at ease with
Valentine. They read and disputed over the same books; Ronald
brought out his large folio of drawings, and Valentine wondered
at his skill. He bent over her, explaining the sketches,
laughing and talking gayly, as though there was no dark
background to his life.