Brownie’s lovely face crimsoned instantly, and the tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. She had not expected any such humble apology from him. She thought he would be stately and dignified, and would yield his haughty spirit only so far as he could do so gracefully; and she had resolved to show him that a Douglas could be as proud as he; so she was wholly unprepared for anything so subdued as this. “I have wronged you,” he went on, studying the beautiful face, “by judging you, without knowing you, and I have wronged Adrian in thinking that, with him, caste could ever outweigh love. He is a grand and noble boy—all my hopes are centered in him, and I could not endure the thought that his heart and his sympathy for any one’s misfortune should have run away with his judgment. But I should not have been so hasty—I should have allowed him to bring you to us, that we might have been convinced of the worthiness of his choice. And I cannot tell you, dear, how proud and happy, how relieved I am to find his selection a most fitting one after all.” Ah! then he was only satisfied with her now because he had discovered that she was heiress to Sir Edgar Douglas, and a descendant of the one whom he had loved in his youth; not because of her own worthiness to be his wife, and her ability to make him happy. It was the pride of blood after all. Thus she interpreted his words. She released her hand, and lifting her head proudly, said, with hauteur: “Pardon me, my lord, if I cannot agree with you in thinking that I shall make Adrian any better wife for having noble blood in my veins. I have been brought up under the shadow of democratic institutions, and I believe that true worth should in every instance be considered before birth or position. My being a Douglas does not change in the least degree my character.” She looked like a little queen as she proudly faced him, and fearlessly advanced her independent principles. But the spirit was on him to try her still further, and he asked: “But, my dear, if you should live to see a son grow to man’s estate, would you be willing for him to seek out a wife among the mechanics or peasantry?” It was a hard question, and Brownie thought a moment before replying. Then she said: “Sir, I believe that the worldly condition of a person makes no difference with the heart or intellect, only so far as it contributes advantages of education and culture. If my son should choose a wife whose heart was pure and true, whose mind had been cultivated, and whose nature was refined, so that she was his equal morally and intellectually, for otherwise they could never be congenial, I should never dare take the responsibility of destroying the happiness of a lifetime, were she titled lady or peasant born.” “What a noble-hearted little woman you are!” his lordship exclaimed, in admiration, and inspired with something of her own enthusiasm.