"
"My dear," said Lord Ronald, very tenderly, "I always meant to!"
* * * * *
Her Hero
I
THE AMERICAN COUSIN
"My dear child, it's absurd to be romantic over such a serious matter as
marriage--the greatest mistake, I assure you. Nothing could be more
suitable than an alliance with this very eligible young man. He plainly
thinks so himself. If you are so unreasonable as to throw away this
magnificent chance, I shall really feel inclined to give you up in
despair."
The soft, drawling accents fell with a gentle sigh through the perfumed
silence of the speaker's boudoir. She was an elderly woman, beautiful,
with that delicate, china-like beauty that never fades from youth to
age. Not even Lady Raffold's enemies had ever disputed the fact of her
beauty, not even her stepdaughter, firmly though she despised her.
She sat behind the tea-table, this stepdaughter, dark and inscrutable, a
grave, unresponsive listener. Her grey eyes never varied as Lady
Raffold's protest came lispingly through the quiet room. She might have
been turning over some altogether irrelevant problem at the back of her
mind. It was this girl's way to hide herself behind a shield of apparent
preoccupation when anything jarred upon her.
"I need scarcely tell you what it would mean to your father," went on
the soft voice.
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