“‘I am Sir Alfred Pelham,’ he continued, ‘and a letter received some time since tells me I have a beautiful young kinswoman here in Granada. Is it true?’ “‘Yes,’ I stammered, ‘quite true. I am Captain Payton’s daughter. Will you come in and see my aunt, Donna Maria?’ “I was old enough to understand the deep admiration his eyes expressed for me. “‘Yes, I will go in,’ he said, ‘but not just yet. Stay out in the sunshine a little longer.’ “I stayed; it would have been well for me if I had died there by the side of that rippling fountain before greater harm came to me. Sir Alfred Pelham was then what perhaps people think him now, one of the handsomest and most fascinating of men. I believe he could do anything that he made up his mind to do. I do not think any one could resist him. He had--perhaps has--a charm of manner, in which no one ever surpassed him. I stayed with him in the sunshine, and that one-half hour changed the whole current of my life. I learned during it a lesson that was very fatal to me. He talked to me about England, about my mother, of everything he thought would interest me, and my girlish heart went out to him, as it had never gone out before. He knew, he understood. Then, when he had heard my simple little story, and had drawn from me every little detail of my life, he went in to see Donna Maria.” She stopped suddenly, and looked shyly at Kenelm. “I wonder,” she said, “if you will think me very vain for telling you that in those days I was very beautiful; people said wondrously beautiful. I am obliged to tell you, so as to make my story clear, and to make you understand why a brilliant, polished, worldly man like Sir Alfred Pelham married me.” “I have good sight of my own,” said Mr. Eyrle, gravely, while Miss Hanson nodded and said: “I have never seen a face one-half so fair as yours, my love.” Juliet Payton smiled faintly. “Beauty has been of but little use to me,” she said. “I am not even proud that it once was mine. “Sir Alfred went to see my aunt, and soon captivated her. She spoke of no one else--he was so handsome, so generous, so noble. If she praised him, hoping to make me like him, and so to get rid of me, it was very cruel, and I pray to God to forgive her. “Perhaps I need not dwell longer on my story. In a short time Sir Alfred became my lover, and I should say no girl ever had such a lover before. He was so gallant, so attentive, so devoted--he was so polished, with his high-bred, graceful manner; he was so different from every one else I knew. At first he bade me keep this love a secret from my aunt. I was not to give her the least hint of it, but after a time he changed his intentions, and told her he wished to make me his wife. “Do not be shocked if I tell you how dearly I loved him. A girl’s first love is, I think, the most beautiful thing in life; and, Heaven help me! I did love him, my whole heart clung to him. I had no other thought, sleeping or waking, night or day.