Louey's proposal elicited but little surprise.
It was, everybody felt, a natural thing,, and
merely fell to Louey, as it were, in the line of
duty, no other slave being eligible for the office
required. So, gravely kissing her mother, as
though she were bound on some remote and
perilous mission, Louisa sought her sister.

To the unspeakable amazement of the whole
house, Miss Mulcaster received the unexpected
representation not only with clemency, but
with pleasure. She had been in search of a
new idea. She was a little wearied of always
having her own way. "School!" School was
the very thing she had been wanting. (Louey
assented.) When should they go? To day?

In about three months, Mrs. Mulcaster made
her final selection of a school. There were but
seven pupils, and the terms, owing to the
carriage and ladies'-maids, were somewhat high;
but the opportunity of two vacancies with Mrs.
Lofthouse was not to be let slip, and thither,
accordingly, the young ladies repaired.

About this period George Gosling quitted
Eton, and went to a German university; and,
with the exception of a few weeks, during which
he and Mildred did not meet, was not again in
England until the decease of his father
summoned him, at the age of twenty-two, to take
possession of Gosling Graize and the oldest
baronetcy in Britain.

Prepared as George was to find his little wife
grown into a lovely woman, he was absolutely
startled by her excessive beauty, and scarcely
less so by the extraordinary facility with which
she seemed to have acquired accomplishments
not often perfected in an ordinary lifetime. Her
governess, Mrs. Lofthouse, had managed, with
excellent tact, to win the child's love and confidence
from the outset, and, becoming warmly
interested in the beautiful but undisciplined
little genius that had come under her care,
laboured so successfully to develop her singular
gifts, that when, at the end of four years, the
young lady, duly completed, made her entry
into society, she at once carried it by storm.

George Gosling, returning to England just as
Miss Mulcaster made her triumphant sally from
the ambush of Mrs. Lofthouse's, hastily enrolled
himself among her slaves, and, skilfully using
the opportunities afforded at certain seasons by
the vicinity of the country residences, soon
distanced his many competitors, and became an
affianced husband.

It was an unwise proceeding of the rejected
lover, as he rode mournfully under the yellowing
trees, to trace back this history. Before it
was half finished, his stolid resignation had
melted quite away. "Not win her, after all?
And who—who, then——" He looked round,
as if to assure himself that he was not riding in
a dream. Not so happy. There were the
familiar paths and trees. He passed the famous
larch-tree, pride of The Haie, one hundred and
thirty feet from crest to root.

"Steadfast old boy!" said George, giving it
an envious lash with his whip as he passed.
"Quiet, jade," to his startled mare. "Will
you dance? Ho, then, for a rattling gallop!
Ho for a frantic leap! Going—going to be
married!" he shouted, waving his hat in the
air as his mare bounded forward. "But ho,
the bride! Where's my bride? Hurrah, my
ladies! Who will be Dame Gosling? Stay—I
have it. I will have my fancies—my caprices,
too. Home—home! And, as I am a living
man, the first woman I speak with—marriageable
and consenting—shall be my wife! I swear
it—I swear it. Yes, by this living face of
nature." He pulled up, took off his hat, and
turned his excited face to the sky. "And may
my pledge, if broken, bear the penalty of a
violated oath! I will ride home, and the first
woman I meet shall be my wife. Conditioned
always"—his heart gave a half-hopeful thrill—
"that she will not relent. And, by Heaven, I
will put that to the issue!"

The next moment he had wheeled his horse,
and was speeding towards The Haie. As fortune
would have it, Mildred was coming out, flower-
basket and scissors in hand. Gravity—a rare
visitant—always became Mildred. She was
grave now, and when, as George, dismounting
and leading his horse, came to meet her, she
lifted up her violet eyes with not well-pleased
astonishment, the young man thought he had
never till that moment fully realised the true
character of her loveliness.

"Returned?" she said, the smooth brow
slightly contracting, but expanding again, as
she noticed his agitated face. "Heavens, what
is the matter?"

"You ask that!" said George, bitterly. Then
he added: "Miss Mulcaster, I have returned to
tell you what I have already done in
acquiescence with your decision. In losing you, I
lose all that constitutes the worth of human
affection. Henceforth, it is a matter of
indifference to me what objects cross me, or
associate their interests with mine. So, listen; you
who, for two years, owned yourself my affianced
wife. My heart, Mildred, recognises no degrees
of content. If you will not be my wife, all
women are the same to me. I have sworn, in
the face of Heaven, that, if you persist in this,
destruction of my hopes, I will return by the
way I came, and take to wife the first woman
I may see—no matter of what station—willing
to accept what you have cast away."

Mildred gazed at him for a moment, as if
considering whether he were in jest or not.
Then she burst into a silvery laugh, and clapped
her little hands, like a pleased child.

"An excellent idea! George, George—what
a romance it would make! May I tell mamma?"

"You do not believe me, then?" said the
young man, with heightened colour.

Mildred's manner changed:

"Believe that you would so far forget what
is due to yourself, your friends, your renowned
ancestors, of whom you are so proud—believe
that, had you actually formed a resolution so
preposterous, you would have been guilty of
the additional folly of using it against me, as a
weapon of insult and menace?"