To Blanche, who loved adventure and novelty, while her daily existence bordered almost on monotony, the little escapade proposed was by no means unacceptable. With the vivid fancy of a lively young girl, she already looked forward to a not very far-distant period, when gay revels under the auspices of her new friend should wake this fair solitude. Mrs. Ormsby rang the bell, and presently the ponies were seen trotting by the windows on the side next the entrance. After a short rest, during which Lady Quaintree gave such information to the housekeeper as she deemed advisable, it was settled that they should be shown over the house. Then came dinner, most excellently planned and arranged by Mrs. Ormsby, and after that a walk and a drive to see the gardens and plantations. As yet, it did not seem real to Lois. Lady Quaintree and her new friend Blanche continually asked her what she thought of this pretty place; but her replies were very brief. The dreamy smile on her lips, however, and within the clear depths of her eyes, answered eloquently enough. Every hour Lady Quaintree coveted this girl more as a wife for her son. This retired spot had quite taken her fancy by storm, and she thought resentfully of the man who had been selected as future owner of the Hall and its mistress. Her ladyship might have dismissed the faintest spark of hope. It would have been absolutely impossible for Lois ever to have cared in the slightest degree for the Honorable Gerald. She had not forgotten for one moment the handsome face, the soft, half-melancholy eyes, that had startled her on entering Lady Quaintree’s salon on that now memorable evening of her life. Perhaps, had Paul Desfrayne carefully planned the best course to arouse a tender, half-piqued interest in the breast of this girl, he could scarcely have devised one different from the one he was now following. The more resolutely Lois tried to drive away the recollection of her mysterious trustee, the more his image seemed to present itself obstinately before her. She found herself speculating on the reasons he might have for avoiding her, and behaving in so rude and cold a manner when obliged to address her. Only twice had she seen him, and already she was annoyed by finding herself wondering frequently where and when she should see him again. To her girlish mind the explanation of his coldness was easy enough. “He loves another, and is probably annoyed as much as I can be by the painfully embarrassing bargain made between us by the kind old man who has been the benefactor of us both,” she thought.