ed. My suit had not prospered, though it had not failed,
since she was to be my wife provided she found no more eligible husband
within a reasonable time.

Dangling blunts the edge of ardor; therefore I soon found myself noticing
beauty elsewhere and discovered none that could be compared with that of
Betty Pickering of the Old Swan. It is true she was, in a sense, a
barmaid, and equally true that I had no thought of marrying her. Still it
was significant even at that early time that my mind reverted to the fact
that Edward Hyde, Lord Chancellor of England and Earl of Clarendon, had
married an innkeeper's widow, whose daughter became the mother of two
queens.

While this was true, still I respected Betty less than I admired her and
far less than she deserved, never entirely forgetting her station in life
nor ceasing to recognize the great distance between us.

When I entered the Old Swan, Betty greeted me with a smile amid a nest of
dimples, and led me upstairs to her parlor, so that we might talk without
being overheard. I sat down on a settle, and Betty took her place beside
me. Her hands rested on her lap, giving her an air of contentment as she
turned her face toward me and asked:--

"Have you come to see Master Hamilton?"

"Yes," I answered, "and you."

"And me?" she asked, looking up with a curious little smile. "In what way
may I serve you?"

"By sitting there and permitting me to look at you," I answered.

"Oh, is that all?" she asked, laughing softly.

"And by smiling once in a while," I suggested.

"Who shall smile? You or I?" she queried, glancing slyly up to me.

"Oh, you, by all means," I returned. "There is no beauty in my smile,
while yours--"

"Come, come, Baron Ned," she interrupted, looking up to me pleadingly.
"My smiles are honest, and that is all that is needful in my case. So
don't try to make me believe they are anything more. Don't make a fool of
me by flattery."

"Don't you like flattery, Betty?" I asked.

"Yes, of course I do," she returned, smiling and dimpling exquisitely.
"But it is not good for me. You know I might grow to believing it and
you."

"But it is true, Betty, and you may believe me," I answered, very
earnestly, taking her hand from her lap.

She permitted me to hold her hand for a moment, and said:--

"I am so desirous of keeping my regard for you and of holding your regard
for me that I am tempted to tell you I fear it will all change if I find
you inclined