"Well, I do seem rather to have put my foot in it--but I did not mean miserable, you know; I meant only that kind of thing that one feels when reading a bit of really good poetry--and most people do not think it a rather pleasant feeling." "Don't mind that moping creature, Alice; let us talk about something we can all understand. I heard a bit of news to-day--perhaps, Mr. Darnley, you can throw a light upon it. You are a distant relation, I think, of Mr. David Arden." "Some very remote cousinship, of which I am very proud," answered the young man gaily, with a glance at Alice. "And what is that--what about uncle David?" inquired the young lady, with animation. "I heard it from my banker to-day. Your uncle, you know, dear, despises us and our doings, and lives, I understand, very quietly; I mean, he has chosen to live quite out of the world, so we have no chance of hearing anything except by accident, from people we are likely to know. Do you see much of your uncle, my dear?" "Not a great deal; but I am very fond of him--he is such a good man, or at least, what is better," she laughed, "he has always been so very kind to me." "You know him, Mr. Darnley?" inquired Lady May. "By Jove, I do!" "And like him?" "No one on earth has better reason to like him," answered the young man warmly--"he has been my best friend on earth." "It is pleasant to know two people who are not ashamed to be grateful," said fat Lady May, with a smile. The young lady returned her smile very kindly. I don't think you ever beheld a prettier creature than Alice Arden. Vivian Darnley had wasted many a secret hour in sketching that oval face. Those large, soft, grey eyes, and long dark lashes, how difficult they are to express! And the brilliant lips! Could art itself paint anything quite like her? Who could paint those beautiful dimples that made her smiles so soft, or express the little circlet of pearly teeth whose tips were just disclosed? Stealthily he was now, for the thousandth time, studying that bewitching smile again. "And what is the story about Uncle David?" asked Alice again. "Well, what will you say--and you, Mr. Darnley, if it should be a story about a young lady?" "Do you mean that Uncle David is going to marry? I think it would be an awful pity!" exclaimed Alice. "Well, dear, to put you out of pain, I'll tell you at once; I only know this--that he is going to provide for her somehow, but whether by adopting her as a child, or taking her for a wife, I can't tell. Only I never saw any one looking archer than Mr. Brounker did to-day when he told me; and I fancied from that it could not be so dull a business as merely making her his daughter." "And who is the young lady?" asked Alice. "Did you ever happen to meet anywhere a Miss Grace Maubray?"