my lord came last; it will look so grand!"

The emeralds glittered in their case; Evelyn looked at them irresolutely;
then, as she looked, a shade came over her forehead, and she sighed, and
closed the lid.

"No, Margaret, I do not want it; take it away."

"Oh, dear, miss! what would my lord say if he were down! And they are so
beautiful! they will look so fine! Deary me, how they sparkle! But you
will wear much finer when you are my lady."

"I hear Mamma's bell; go, Margaret, she wants you."

Left alone, the young beauty sank down abstractedly, and though the
looking-glass was opposite, it did not arrest her eye; she forgot her
wardrobe, her muslin dress, her fears, and her guests.

"Ah," she thought, "what a weight of dread I feel here when I think of
Lord Vargrave and this fatal engagement; and every day I feel it more and
more. To leave my dear, dear mother, the dear cottage--oh! I never can.
I used to like him when I was a child; now I shudder at his name. Why is
this? He is kind; he condescends to seek to please. It was the wish of
my poor father,--for father he really was to me; and yet--oh that he had
left me poor and free!"

At this part of Evelyn's meditation the unusual sound of wheels was heard
on the gravel; she started up, wiped the tears from her eyes, and hurried
down to welcome the expected guests.