And my Lady Drumshoddy was a very moral woman according to her standard, and carried her head very high. When tidings were bruited abroad of what happened, and the split in the family circle at Craigengowan, there were equal sorrow and indignation expressed in the servants' hall, the gamekeepers' lodges, and the home farm, for joyous and boyish Captain Melfort was a favourite with all on the Fettercairn estates; and Mrs. Prim, his mother's maid, actually shed many tears over the untoward fate he had brought upon himself. CHAPTER II. WEDDED. 'And you will love me still, Flora, in spite of this bitter affront to which you are subjected for my sake?' said Lennard. 'Yes,' said the girl passionately, 'I love you, Lennard--love you so much,' she added, while her soft voice broke and her blossom-like lips quivered, 'that were I to lose you I would die!' 'My darling, you cannot lose me now,' he responded, while tenderly caressing her. 'Are we foolish to talk in this fashion, Lennard?' 'Foolish?' 'Yes--or rash. I have heard that it is not lucky for people to love each other so much as we do.' 'Could we love each other less?' 'I don't think so,' said she simply and sweetly, as he laid her cheek on his breast with her upturned eyes gazing into his. The girl was slight and slender, yet perfect was every curve of her shapely figure, which was destitute of any straight line; even her nose was, in the slightest degree, aquiline. Her beautifully arched mouth, the scarlet line of her upper lip, and the full round of the nether one were parted in a tender smile, just enough to show her teeth, defied all criticism; her complexion was pure and soft, and her eyes were of the most liquid hazel, with almost black lashes. Her hair was of the same tint, and Flora seemed a lady to perfection, especially by the whiteness and delicacy of her beautifully shaped little hands. When she walked she did so gracefully, as all Highland women do, and like them held her head poised on her slender neck so airily and prettily that her nurse, Madelon, called her 'the swan.' 'How I trembled, Lennard,' said she, after a pause, 'as I thought of the _mauvais quart d'heure_ you were undergoing at Craigengowan.' 'It was a _mauvais_ hour and more, darling.' 'And ever and anon I felt that strange chill, or shudder, which Nurse Madelon says people feel when some one crosses the place where their grave is to be. How can your parents be so cruel to you?' 'And to you, Flora!' 'Ah, that is different,' she replied, with her eyes full of unshed tears, and in a pained voice. 'Doubtless they consider me a very designing girl; but in spite of that, you will always care for me as much as you do now?' 'Why such fears? Ever and always--ever and always, my darling,' said Lennard Melfort, stopping her questioning lips most effectually for a time.