Poor old _mater!_ how awfully she seemed to take his decision to heart! She said this had been her pet project for so many years, and it was hard to see it overthrown at last. George wouldn't do as well, you suppose? No; it was for her own boy, her own darling, the _spes gregis_, that she wanted the wealth and the position; as though that would be the least value, if there were not happiness. His mother didn't seem to understand that, and how could he have any happiness without Daisy? Oh, confound it! there, he had run off that track of thought for a few minutes, and had a small respite; and now he was on it again, and as miserable as ever. Turning over these thoughts in his mind, Paul Derinzy hurried through the streets and across the Park, and speedily reached the well-known place of meeting. It was a sharp bright day in the early winter. The leaves were off the trees now, and there was an uninterrupted view for many hundred yards. Paul gazed eagerly about him, but could see nothing of Daisy. Usually, to the discredit of his gallantry, she had been first to arrive; now she was not there, although the time for meeting was past; and Paul took it as a bad omen, and his heart sank within him. He took two or three turns up and down the dreary avenue, and at length Daisy appeared in sight. He hurried to meet her, and as she approached him he could not help being struck with her marvellous beauty. Paul would have sworn, had he been asked--but her face was ever present to him during the time of his absence--that he felt that he must have forgotten it, or she must have wonderfully improved, so astonished was he at her appearance. She had been walking fast, and a splendid colour glowed in her cheeks. Her eyes were unusually bright too; her dress, which was always neat and in excellent taste, seemed to Paul to be made of some richer and softer material than she was in the habit of wearing. She smiled pleasantly at him as he neared her, and all his gloom for a time melted away. "My own, my darling!" that was all he said, as he took both her hands in his, and looked down lovingly into her eyes. "I am a little late, Paul, I am afraid," said Daisy; "but Madame had something particular to be done, and as she has been very good in giving me holidays lately, I did not like to pass the work which she wished me to do to anyone else." "Never mind, pet; you are here at last, and I am in heaven," said Paul. "How splendidly handsome you look, Daisy! What have you been doing?" "Nothing, that I know of, in particular," said the girl, "beyond having a little less work and a little more fresh air. Rest and exercise have been my sole cosmetics." "Holidays and fresh air, eh, miss?" said Paul, smiling rather grimly; "and you never could get an hour to come out with me, Daisy!" "Because it was in the height of the season, when our work was incessant from morning till night, that you were good enough to ask me, Mr. Douglas," said Daisy, making a little _moue_.