"Would to Heaven the name stood alone," he said, almost bitterly. "The barrier you fancy stands between us would vanish and fade away then. Never, even in sport, call me by my title again, my darling, or I shall hate it!" She smiled. "I shall never forget it," she said. "They will not let me. I am not Lady Lenore." He started slightly, then looked down at her. "Thank Heaven, no!" he said, with a smile. Stella smiled almost sadly. "She might forget; she is noble too. How beautiful she is!" "Is she?" he said, smiling down at her. "To me there is only one beautiful face in the world, and--it is here," and he touched it with his finger--"here--my very own. But what is Lenore to us to-night, my darling? Why do you speak of her?" "Because--shall I tell you?" He nodded, looking down at her. "Because they said--Lady Lilian said, that----" she stopped. "Well?" "That they wished you to marry her," she whispered. He laughed, his short laugh. "She might say the same of several young ladies," he said. "My mother is very anxious on the point. Yes, but wishes are not horses, or one could probably be persuaded to mount and ride as their parents wish them--don't that sound wise and profound? I shall not ride to Lady Lenore; I have ridden to your feet, my darling!" "And you will never ride away again," she murmured. "Never," he said. "Here, by your side, I shall remain while life lasts!" "While life lasts!" she repeated, as if the words were music. "I shall have you near me always. Ah, it sounds too beautiful! too beautiful!" "But it will be true," he said. The clock chimed the hour. Stella started. "So late!" she said, with a little sigh. "I must go!" and she glanced at the windows with a little shudder. "If I could but steal away without seeing them--without being seen! I feel--" she paused, and the crimson covered her face and neck--"as if they had but to glance at me to know--to know what has happened," and she trembled. "Are you so afraid?" he said. "Really so afraid? Well, why should they know?" She looked up eagerly. "Oh, no, do not let them know! Why should we tell them; it--it is like letting them share in our happiness; it is our secret, is it not?" "Let us keep it," he said, quietly, musingly. "Why should they know, indeed! Let us keep the world outside, for a while at least. You and I alone in our love, my darling." With his arm round her they went back to the fernery, and here she drew away from him, but not until he had taken another kiss. "It is our real 'good night,' you know," he said; "the 'good-night' we shall say presently will mean nothing. This is our 'good-night.' Happy dreams, my angel, my star!" Stella clung to him for a moment with a little reluctant sigh, then she looked up at him with a smile. "I am afraid I am awfully tumbled and tangled," she said, putting her hand to her hair. He smoothed the silken threads with his hand, and as he did so drew the rose from her hair.