and long lashes, there was a magnetic charm which was both sweet
and powerful. Moreover, she dressed well,--in quiet taste, with a
careful avoidance of anything foolish or eccentric in fashion, and
wherever she went she made her effect as a graceful young presence
expressive of repose and harmony. She spoke delightfully,--in a
delicious voice, attuned to the most melodious inflections, and
her constant study of the finer literature of the past gave her
certain ways of expressing herself in a manner so far removed from
the abrupt slanginess commonly used to-day by young people of both
sexes that she was called "quaint" by some and "weird" by others
of her own sex, though by men young and old she was declared
"charming." Guarded and chaperoned by good old Miss Lavinia Leigh,
she had no cause to be otherwise than satisfied with her
apparently reckless and unguided plunge into the mighty vortex of
London,--some beneficent spirit had led her into a haven of safety
and brought her straight to the goal of her ambition without
difficulty.

"Of course I owe it all to Dad," she thought. "If it had not been
for the four hundred pounds he left me to 'buy pretties' with I
could not have done anything. I have bought my 'pretties'!--not
bridal ones--but things so much better!"

As the memory of her "Dad" came over her, tears sprang to her
eyes. In her mind she saw the smooth green pastures round Briar
Farm--the beautiful old gabled house,--the solemn trees waving
their branches in the wind over the tomb of the "Sieur Amadis,"--
the doves wheeling round and round in the clear air, and her own
"Cupid" falling like a snowflake from the roof to her caressing
hand. All the old life of country sights and sounds passed before