"There is no danger of it," returned Adeline, breathlessly. "If there were, do you suppose papa and mamma would suffer me to be with him? How could any such idea enter your head, Mary Carr? You are taking a leaf from Rose's book." Papa and mamma! Truth was in her accent, but how little she understood. "I am willing to believe that there is no danger," was Miss Carr's reply. "_I hope you will be able so to speak when we next meet_. Do not feel angry with me, Adeline. I have but your interest at heart." Mr. St. John conducted Miss Carr to the carriage, and, in shaking hands, he jestingly begged her to give his love to Rose: they had talked much of her. As he stood there on the stone steps, bareheaded, until Mary should drive away, her last look lingered on him; and again that uneasy doubt shot through her mind--how impossible that Adeline should live in continual companionship with such a man, and not learn to love him! Miss Carr was received by Madame de Nino with a scolding and a threat of punishment. She had exceeded her time of absence by a day. But Mary laid the blame upon Madame de Castella, and handed in a note of apology from that lady. Madame was only half soothed; but she graciously remitted the punishment. Mary drew Rose Darling aside. "Won't you admire these lovely flowers? They were sent for you." Rose was sulky. She had been in a furious state of envy during Mary's visit, because she was not invited herself. "Of all the human race, Rose, playing out their course upon this variable world of ours, who do you suppose is located just now within a stone's throw of the Château de Beaufoy?" "I dare say it's nobody I know," said Rose, cross still. "You know and admire him. A young and handsome man. He gathered these flowers for you--see how rare they are!--and he sent them with his love." She looked up sharply; and her mind reverted to one who, perhaps, was seldom absent from it. But another moment sufficed to show how idle was the thought; and the current of ideas led her to another. "Not Lord John Seymour?" "No; what should bring him there? Frederick St. John." "He! You are joking, Mary Carr." "I am not. He is staying quite close to them. We saw a great deal of him. And--Rose!--he is taking Adeline's portrait!" "Allez toujours," exclaimed Rose, using a familiar French expression. "I told you once before, Mary Carr, that that man, my pseudo-cousin, would exercise some extraordinary influence over Adeline de Castella's future life; and I now tell it you again." CHAPTER XX. LOVE'S FIRST DREAM. Hours, days, weeks, rolled on, after the departure of Miss Carr from the Château de Beaufoy, and no outward change had taken place in its occupants. But in the inward heart of one, how much!