The engagement concluded, Leonore trod on air. She who had never been anywhere, who was never supposed to have a wish or thought of her own, was all at once a queen. Godfrey assented to everything, and of himself drew up the plan--oh, glorious! of a prolonged wedding tour. His little bride was to go wherever she chose, see the sights she selected, and--shop in Paris. She was actually to stay a whole fortnight in Paris to buy clothes. "Very right, very proper;" nodded her father to this. He was so smiling and genial over everything at this juncture that Leonore's tongue wagged freely in his presence, and on hearing the above she turned to him with a saucy air, which under the circumstances he found quite pretty and pleasant:-- "So you see, there will be no need to dive deep into _your_ pocket, father, and my things will be ever so much smarter and more up-to-date besides." "Ha, ha, ha!"--laughed the general. It all came back to him now--all that rainbow period, which had just dissolved into the grim blackness of night. He could see the merry little chit--(as he called her then)--rustling in her new-found state like a puffed-out Jenny Wren; he could hear her calling to Godfrey over the stairs, and after him across the lawn; most distinctly of all, there rose before his mind's eye the wedding day, and the round baby face solemnised for the occasion, with its large eyes and pursed-up lips, whence emanated the bold "I will" which startled him by its loudness and clearness,--and yet again his own sigh of satisfaction as the well-known march pealed out, and the pair walked down the aisle, and the thing was done. The thing was done, and could not be undone--he was in spirits to play his part gloriously. "Terrible business this, Lady St. Emeraud. Poor little girl, to have to be called 'Mrs. Stubbs,' eh, what? Oh, bless you, yes; it's her own doing, entirely her own doing--quite a love match,--but, well----" and there was a shrug of the shoulders, which, however, neither took in Lady St. Emeraud nor any one else. "The horrid old wretch is simply gloating, and all the other girls may follow Leonore's example with his blessing;" was her ladyship's comment. "Stubbs--Tubbs--or Ubbs--if there is money enough, come one, come all to the Abbey." But the speaker turned with a more kindly air to the white-robed figure of the youthful bride, and wished her well with a kiss--and even that kiss added to the sting of General Boldero's present ruminations. He had woven it into his remarks on many subsequent occasions. He called Leonore "Lady St. Emeraud's pet". And he would put himself in her ladyship's way when he had news of her "Pet," and tell the news with an air of its being of special interest. "Hang it all, her ladyship ought to have been the child's godmother, if we had had our wits about us;" he had exclaimed within the home circle.