Charles’s face lighted with hope. He was ready to fall upon the cold-looking lady’s neck and embrace her, if that would hasten matters. He thought she looked more pleasing than when he had first seen her. "I think, Mr. Van Rensselaer, you would do well to leave this matter in my hands now. As you say, it is a very delicate situation, and one that must be handled most carefully. I will go to Jemima at once and talk with her. I must break the news gently——" "Of course, of course—the poor lamb!" murmured the kind old father of the reprobate bridegroom. "She is very nervous and quite unstrung with the day’s preparation," went on the step-mother, the more to work her will upon the feelings of those present. "Of course, of course—poor child! Don’t distress her any more than is necessary, I beg. It is dreadful for her, dreadful!" "But it isn’t quite as if she had never seen me," put in Charles wistfully. "Tell her I have loved her from the very first sight I had of her——" The woman turned the chilly search-light of her eyes upon the young man’s ardent face, and a sense of foreboding passed over him. Poor soul, she was only wondering what it must be like to have some one talk in that way about one. Still, she was keen to see an advantage, and knew it would help her in the task she had set herself to get rid of her step-daughter. "Whatever you think best, Maria," assented Dawn’s father wearily. He was glad, after all, not to have to tell the girl. He had come to fear her eyes, which were like her mother’s, and her temper, which was his own. "Of course, of course," said old Mr. Winthrop. Dawn’s father bowed once more his assent. In his heart he heard again the words: "You have no right. You have no right!" Would the sin of his youth never be expiated by sorrow? Mrs. Van Rensselaer arose. "I will go up and talk with her," she said coolly, as though it were quite an ordinary matter under discussion. "You will ask her to come down and let me talk to her?" asked Charles, following her into the hall. "I think perhaps I can make her see it better than any one else." The woman looked him over, frowning. This ardent youth was going to be hard to control. She must be wary or he would upset all her plans, as well as his own. "I will see what is best," she answered coldly. "Remember she has retired, and this will be a great shock to her. It would be better for you to give her a little time to recover and to think it over. Leave it to me. I will do my best for you." She tried to smile, but conveyed rather an expression of arrogance than of anything else. "Of course." The young man drew back thoughtfully. "Do not hurry her."