"That all points to his being indeed young Belamour," said her father;
"age, military appearance, and all--I wonder what this portends!"

"What a disaster!" exclaimed Harriet, "that my sister and I should have
been out of the way, and only a chit like Aura be there to be presented
to him."

"If young ladies _will_ defy Cupid," began her father;--but at that
moment Corporal Palmer knocked at the door, bringing a basin of soup
for his master, and announcing "Supper is served, young ladies."

Each of the three bent her knee to receive her father's blessing and
kiss, then curtseying at the door, departed, Betty lingering behind her
two juniors to see her father taste his soup and to make sure that he
relished it.




CHAPTER II. THE HOUSE OF DELAVIE.


All his Paphian mother fear;
Empress! all thy sway revere!
EURIPEDES (Anstice).


The parlour where the supper was laid was oak panelled, but painted
white. Like a little island in the vast polished slippery floor lay