And so the benevolent heart sunned itself in pleasant dreams. The future looked fair and peaceful, no brooding complications, no murky clouds threatened the atmosphere, passion lay dormant, rest was the chief good to be desired. Could benevolence play him false, could affection be misplaced, would he ever come to own to himself that delusion had cheated him, that husks and not bread had been given him to eat, that his honest yearning heart had again betrayed him, that a kindly impulse, a protecting tenderness, had blinded him to his true happiness? 'How good he is,' thought the young girl as she laid her head on the pillow; 'how dearly I must love him: I ought to love him. I never imagined any one could be half so gentle. I wonder if Roy will be glad when I tell him--oh yes, I wonder if Roy will be glad?' CHAPTER XXIII 'AND MAIDENS CALL IT LOVE-IN-IDLENESS' 'Is there within thy heart a need That mine cannot fulfil? One chord that any other hand Could better wake or still? Speak now, lest at some future day My whole life wither and decay.' Adelaide Anne Procter. The news of Dr. Heriot's engagement soon spread fast; he was amused, and Polly half frightened, by the congratulations that poured upon them. Mr. Trelawny, restored to something like good humour by the unexpected tidings, made surly overtures of peace, which were received on Dr. Heriot's part with his usual urbanity. The Squire imparted the news to his daughter after his own ungracious fashion. 'Do you hear Heriot's gone and made a fool of himself?' he said, as he sat facing her at table; 'he has engaged himself to that ward of his; why, he is twenty years older than the girl if he is a day!' 'Papa, do you know what you are saying?' expostulated Ethel; the audacity of the statement bewildered her; she would have scorned herself for her credulity if she had believed him. Dr. Heriot--their Dr. Heriot! No, she would not so malign his wisdom. The quiet scepticism of her manner excited Mr. Trelawny's wrath. 'You women all set such store by Heriot,' he returned, sneeringly; 'everything he did was right in your eyes; you can't believe he would be caught like other men by a pretty face, eh?' 'No, I cannot believe it,' she returned, still firmly. 'Then you may go into the town and hear it for yourself,' he continued, taking up his paper with a pretence of indifference, but his keen eyes still watched her from beneath it. Was it only her usual obstinacy, or was she really incredulous of his tidings? 'I had it from Davidson, who had congratulated the Doctor himself that morning,' he continued, sullenly; 'he said he never saw him look better in his life; the girl was with him.' 'But not Polly--you cannot mean Polly Ellison?' and now Ethel turned strangely white. 'Papa, there must be some mistake about it all. I--I will go and see Mildred.' 'You may spare yourself that trouble,' returned Mr. Trelawny, gloomily.