“Why should you not?” said Georgie, with a pleased blush. “I have heard you say that the Misses Tregarthyn have asked you again and again. And they seem so fond of you; and I am sure mamma and papa would be quite glad if you would run down and look at us, and then run back and tell them all the news. And as to Lisbeth, Lisbeth never objects to anything. I think she likes you well enough when you are good. Come, by all means.” And she seemed to regard his proposition as so natural and pleasant, that he had no alternative but to profess to regard it as such himself; and so it was agreed upon, that, in course of time, he should follow them to Pen’yllan. CHAPTER IX. WE MUST ALWAYS BE TRUE. Indeed, he drifted so far this evening, that there is no knowing how sad a story this of mine might have been, if the fates had not been kinder to pretty Georgie Esmond than they are to the generality of people. Surely it must have been because she deserved something better than the fortune of a disappointed woman, that chance interposed in her behalf before she went to sleep that night. She had enjoyed herself very much during Hector’s visit. She had sung her sweetest songs, and had been in the brightest of good spirits. Indeed, she had been very happy, and perhaps had felt her innocent, warm heart stirred a little, once or twice, by the young man’s tender speeches, though she was very far from being in the frame of mind to analyze the reasons for her gentle pleasure. When her visitor had taken his departure, she came to the colonel’s arm-chair, and possibly feeling somewhat conscience-stricken, because she had left “papa” to his own resources for so long a time, she applied herself to the task of petting him in her most seductive manner. “You are very quiet, papa,” she said, settling herself upon a footstool, at his side. “I hope you are not going to have the gout again, darling. Mamma, what shall we do with him, if he insists on having the gout, when I am going to Pen’yllan? I shall have to stay at home, and so will Lisbeth. He cannot possibly dispense with us, when he has the gout.” “But I am not going to have the gout,” protested the colonel, stoutly. “I am quite well, my dear; but the fact is--the fact is, I was thinking of a discovery I made this evening--a discovery about Anstruthers.” “Hector?” exclaimed Georgie, half-unconsciously, and then turned her bright eyes upon the shining fender. “Yes,” proceeded Colonel Esmond. “Hector himself. I believe I have found out what has changed him so--so deucedly, not to put too fine a point upon it--during the last four or five years. You remember what a frank, warm-hearted lad he was, at three-and-twenty, Jennie?” to Mrs. Esmond. “Papa,” interposed Georgie, “do you really think he has changed for the worse? In his heart, I mean.” “He has not changed for the better,” answered the colonel. “But his heart is all right, my dear.”