young girl herself slept on heavily till noon, when she awoke,
refreshed by her long rest, and was able to meet the family at luncheon,
though her pallid cheeks and wistful eyes were enough to strike remorse
to the hearts of her bitter enemies, if they had not been hard and cold
as stone.

But her lover's looks and smiles were warm enough to atone for the
indifference of the rest, and the soft color flew to her cheeks again as
he took her hand tenderly, saying:

"Get ready, darling, and I shall take you for a long drive into the
country this evening."

Ah! how Olive and Ela envied her the bliss of the long tete-a-tete drive
as they watched the lovers going away in the elegant phaeton behind the
spirited gray ponies, the sunshine resting so lovingly on Dainty's curly
locks beneath the simple white hat. When they returned, in the last rosy
glow of sunset, Dainty seemed to have received a new baptism of beauty,
she was so changed from the pale, nervous girl of a few hours ago. Now
her cheeks and lips glowed rosy-red, and her eyes were bright with
happiness--the happiness of loving and being loved. It made her cousins
so angry they could have killed her in their jealous spite, for it
lacked but two weeks to the wedding now, and it seemed as if nothing
that spite or malice could invent had any power to break off the
consummation of the engagement.

They were so furious they would willingly have poisoned her, but for
fear of being found out.

No words could tell how they hated that fair face and golden hair, that
rosy mouth, those blue eyes and dimples that had rivaled them in the
prize they longed to win.

The sight of the happy lovers was gall and wormwood to their envious
hearts.

They were indignant, too, because they could see, beneath the surface of
Love's coldly courteous manner, that he vaguely suspected them of having
a hand in the mysterious plot to frighten his timid betrothed.

To-day he had carried matters with a high hand, interrogating all the
servants carefully, and offering a reward of a hundred dollars to any
one who should discover the identity of the person playing ghost.

Their greed thus excited, every hireling was anxious to earn the reward,
and it would certainly be dangerous for any one to attempt again the
cruel role of ghost, for detection seemed almost certain.

The young man had also made some investigations that resulted in showing
him how very easy it had been for the malicious enem