And he added, as some of the crowd around Liane moved aside: "Please excuse me while I speak to Miss Lester." Dolly made an angry little pout at him as he moved away. She had forgiven Liane for winning the prize of beauty, but if she carried off Devereaux's heart, too, why, that would be quite different. Liane knew how Dolly had set her heart on him. It would be mean if she came between them, she thought. She managed to get near them when they met, and marked Liane's blush and smile of pleasure. "And she always pretended not to care for flirting! But I suppose she will turn over a new leaf from to-night," she muttered jealously, as she edged nearer, trying to overhear everything that passed between the pair. She had one triumph, at least, when she heard Devereaux prefer a low request to walk home with Liane that evening. "I am very sorry, but--I have already promised Mr. Dean," the girl murmured back, in regretful tones. CHAPTER XIII. EDMUND CLARKE'S SUSPICION. Roma Clarke gave her parents a very uncomfortable quarter of an hour riding home that evening. She threw pride to the winds, and raved in grief and anger at her defeat in the contest for the beauty prize, charging it most bitterly at the door of Jesse Devereaux. Mr. Clarke learned for the first time now of the broken engagement, and, on finding that it was Roma's fault, he could not help censuring her severely for the folly by which she had lost her lover. He thought bitterly in his heart: "Ah, how different my own sweet daughter must have been from this ill-tempered, coarse-grained girl who betrays her low origin in spite of the good bringing up and fine education she has received! My poor wife! How disappointed she must feel at heart, in spite of her brave show of affection and sympathy! And, as for Jesse Devereaux, he is a splendid young fellow, and has had a lucky escape from Roma's toils. I cannot feel that she will make any man a lovable wife, though I shall be glad enough to have her married off my hands!" When Roma had gone, sobbing, to her room, he talked very earnestly to her mother, somewhat blaming her for encouraging the girl's willful temper. "She is spoiled and selfish," he declared. "I for one am willing to own that the prize was well given to Miss Lester. She is very lovely--far lovelier than Roma!" "How can you say so of our dear girl?" Mrs. Clarke cried reproachfully. "Because, my dear wife, my eyes are not blinded, like yours, by love and partiality, and thus I can do justice to others," he answered firmly. "You have never loved our daughter as you should. Therefore, I have felt it my duty to love and cherish her the more!" she sobbed. He took her tenderly in his arms, and kissed the beautiful, quivering lips, exclaiming: "Oh, my love, if our daughter were more like you, I could love her a hundredfold better! But, alas, she is so different, both in beauty and disposition, from my angel wife!"