The train sped on through the beautiful sunshine of early June, leaving the heated city far behind, and Dainty's heart felt as buoyant as the morning, her journey was so pleasant and her companion so attractive, placing her so completely at her ease, except when he would fix his brilliant dark eyes so ardently on her face that she would blush in spite of herself and look down in sweet confusion while her innocent heart throbbed wildly with a new, sweet sensation almost akin to pain. After one of these confusing episodes, Dainty tried to shake off her embarrassment by saying: "Tell me all about Ellsworth! Is it indeed so grand that my aunt will be ashamed of me, as my cousins declared?" "No one could be ashamed of _you_!" declared Ellsworth, with another glance that set her pulses beating wildly, though she answered, demurely: "Thank you; but, of course, you are not a judge of clothes. Olive and Ela said I had nothing fit to wear at Ellsworth." "I have never seen a prettier or more becoming gown than the one you have on now," he replied, with an approving glance at her crisp, freshly laundered blue linen, while he added: "We have some very nice young men in the neighborhood of Ellsworth, and I am sure they will all fall in love with you at sight." "Flatterer!" she cried with shy archness; but his words and looks thrilled her heart, and made her think, with sudden passion: "If only he would fall in love with me, I could excuse all the rest!" What a change had come to the tired and weary schoolgirl of only yesterday! She was parted from her mother for the first time in her young life, among new scenes and strangers, and Cupid was knocking at the door of her heart. Hitherto she had known only tranquil happiness and little sorrow. How would it be now? "Love and pain Are kinsfolk twain." Love changes all the world to the heart that admits him as a guest; but Dainty was not wise enough to bar the charming little stranger out. CHAPTER II. "THE PRETTIEST GIRL IN THE ROOM!" Golden curls, a snare for Cupid. Eyes of blue, a treacherous sea, Where Love's votaries sink drowning, Wrecked on hidden reefs; ah, me! Lips of bloom like June's red roses, Lily throat and dimpled chin, Glowing cheeks like fragrant posies, Made for smiles to gather in. --_Mrs. Alex McVeigh Miller_. Meanwhile, Olive and Ela, having reached Ellsworth in a high state of glee at outwitting Dainty so cleverly, received a great shock on learning from their aunt that Lovelace Ellsworth had expected to accompany them from Richmond to his home. Bitterness filled their hearts when they realized what would be the outcome of their malice--that instead of Dainty having to give up her trip through timidity at traveling alone, she would have the escort of the man from whom they had tried so sedulously to keep her apart.