If she had said that she was too well-trained to assail him with
interrogatories he had not invited, it would have been nearer the
mark.

"There is nothing relating to her which I desire to conceal," he
rejoined, with some stiffness, "or she would never have become my
promised wife. She is a Miss Dorrance, the daughter of a widow
residing in the vicinity of Boston, Massachusetts. I met her first
at Trenton Falls, where a happy accident brought me into association
with her party. I travelled with them to the Lakes and among the
White Mountains, and, while in Boston, visited her daily. We were
betrothed a week ago, and having, as I have observed, an aversion to
protracted engagements, I prevailed upon her to appoint the tenth of
next mouth as our marriage day. There you have the story in brief. I
have not Mrs. Sutton's talents as a raconteur, nor her disposition
to turn hearts inside out for the edification of her auditors."

"Does she--Miss Dorrance--look like anybody I know?" asked Mabel,
hesitating to declare herself dissatisfied with the skeleton
love-tale, yet uncertain how to learn more.

"A roundabout way of asking if she is passable in appearance,"
Winston said, with his smile of conscious superiority. "Judge for
yourself!" taking from his pocket a miniature.

"How beautiful! What a very handsome woman?" the sister exclaimed at
sight of the pictured face.

"You are correct. She is, moreover, a thorough lady, and
highly-educated. Ridgeley will have a queenly mistress. The likeness