'Sour grapes, Jerry, that is all,' replied Dalton, laughing, but only from the teeth outwards, as he rode off to what Wilmot said was 'his doom.' The rumour--real or alleged--so casually mentioned by Jerry, rankled deeply in Dalton's mind for a time, but it passed away when he found himself in the presence of Mrs. Trelawney, and he saw again her soft hazel eyes, so delicately lidded, their long lashes and eyebrows darker than her rich chestnut hair; her dress that hung in clinging folds around her and showed her beautiful form, grandly outlined as that of a classical statue; and when Antoinette--or Netty, as he called her now--stole her hand, white as a snowflake and tiny as a fairy's, into his, and, looking at him with eyes blue as forget-me-nots, said, 'I love you!' he stroked the shower of golden tresses that were held back from the child's brow by a blue silk riband, and replied, while he kissed her. 'And I love you, Netty, so much!' Her tiny mouth was all a-tremble with fun and pleasure as she asked-- 'And don't you love mamma too?' He made no answer, but Mrs. Trelawney, whose eyes had been suffused with tender pleasure at his kind manner with Netty, now laughed and said-- 'What do you mean, you _enfant terrible_?' 'I heard you and Alison Cheyne talking of Captain Dalton the other day and I thought I should so like him for a papa.' 'Why?' asked Mrs. Trelawney. 'Because I never had one.' 'Never had one?' she repeated, laughing. 'No; I am the only little girl that never had.' 'You don't remember him then?' said Dalton, recalling the remarks of Jerry. 'How can one remember what one never, never had?' said little Netty, sententiously. 'Go to your nurse, Netty,' said her mamma, 'I hear her calling for you.' So Netty was summarily dismissed, and not a moment too soon, as both her listeners thought, and an awkward pause was about to ensue, when Mrs. Trelawney said, suddenly, 'Your friend Goring seems desperately smitten with my sweet little friend Alison Cheyne.' 'If so, I wish him all success,' replied Dalton. 'Goring is the king of good fellows, and the girl is quite beautiful.' 'The French have a curious saying that it is not necessary to be beautiful in order to be a beauty; but Alison Cheyne is indeed lovely, and has, in a high degree, a lady-like dignity about her; and, with it, is so charmingly simple and _piquante_. I hope Goring is rich; her father, I am pretty sure, looks forward to a wealthy alliance for her.' 'Then, in that case, I fear poor Bevil will be out of the running,' said Dalton; 'he has some expectations, I know, but they are very remote, I fear. We cannot, however, control our hearts, nor, when in love, do we care about calculating eventualities,' he added, very pointedly, while taking Mrs. Trelawney's delicate and shapely little hand between his two, but she withdrew it, and, while discharging a whole volley of expression by one flashing _œillade_ of her hazel eyes, she exclaimed, laughingly,