Leycester almost started. "You mean----?" "I mean your marriage," said the earl, staring at him, and wondering why he should be so dense and altogether grim, "of course, of course, your marriage. The sooner the better, my dear Leycester. There will be preparations to make, and they always take time. I think, if you can persuade Lenore to fix an early date, I would see Harbor and Harbor"--the family solicitors--"at once. I need hardly say that anything I can do to expedite matters I will do gladly. I think you always had a fancy for the place in Scotland--you shall have that; and as to the house in town, well if you haven't already thought of a place, there is the house in the square----" Leycester's face flushed for a moment. "You are very good to me, sir," he said; and for the first time his voice showed some feeling. "Nonsense!" said the earl cordially. "You know that I would do anything, everything to make your future a happy one. Talk it over with Lenore!" "I will, sir," said Leycester. "I think I will go up to Lilian now, she expects me." The earl took his hand and shook it as he had not shaken it for many a day, and Leycester went up-stairs. The countess had left the room, but he found her waiting for him. "Good-night, mother," he said. "Oh, Leycester, you have made me--all of us--so happy!" "Ay," he said, and he smiled at her. "I am very glad. Heaven knows I have often enough made you unhappy, mother." "No, no," she said, kissing him; "this makes up for all--for all!" Leycester watched her as she went down-stairs, and a sigh broke from him. "Not one of them understands, not one," he murmured. But there was one watching for him who understood. "Leycester," she said, holding out her hands to him and almost rising. He sat on the head of the couch and put his hand on her head. "Mamma has just told me, Ley," she murmured. "I am so glad, so glad. I have never been so happy." He was silent, his fingers caressing her cheek. "It is what we have all been hoping and praying for, Ley! She is so good and sweet, and so true." "Yes," he said, little guessing at her falsity. "And, Ley--she loves you so dearly." "Aye," he said, with almost a groan. She looked up at him and saw his face, and her own changed color; her hand stole up to his. "Oh, Ley, Ley," she murmured, piteously. "You have forgotten all that?" He smiled, not bitterly but sadly. "Forgotten? No," he said; "such things are not easily forgotten. But it is past, and I am going to forget now, Lil." Even as he spoke he seemed to see the loving face, with its trusting smile, floating before him. "Yes, Ley, dear Ley, for her sake. For Lenore's sake." "Yes," he said, grimly, "for hers and for my own." "You will be so happy; I know it, I feel it. No one could help loving her, and every day you will learn to love her more dearly, and the past will fade away and be forgotten, Ley." "Yes," he said, in a low, absent voice.