had
made me.'

She escaped again; she would not have said thus much if she had not
known there could be no reply, for Lady Martindale was sailing down the
grand staircase.

She met him no more till dinner, when he was silent, and she talkative
and flighty, so that Violet suspected there had been a quarrel.

The next morning, the first tidings were that John had a cold and was
confined to his bed by cough and pain in the chest; while something too
was said of his having been kept up late at night talking. Theodora
paid a visit to the sick child in the early morning, and after breakfast
accompanied Violet to the lodge, where Violet found the poor little
thing nursed with more goodwill than skill by its old aunt and Theodora,
took it into her own motherly arms, gave it food and medicine, and
hushed it to sleep so successfully, that Theodora respected what she
called the feminine element.

The two sisters walked back happily together; but at the door Lord
Martindale met them, exclaiming, 'Where have you been, Theodora? Come
here.'

Violet wished to be certified that John was not worse, but could find no
one but Mr. Fotheringham, who, with a little twist of the corner of
his mouth, assured her that there was no cause for uneasiness on that
account.

Some time had gone by; she was writing letters, while Percy stood in the
deep window, reading the newspapers, and making a great rustling with
them. Suddenly Arthur entered, exclaiming,

'Well, Violet, here is a piece of news! Guess!'

'That is the way people always tell wedding news.'

'Right. Now then for the victims.'

'Your sister? What really? And who? Oh, not Lord St. Erme?'

'The very antipodes, as Harrison would say! Guess again.'

'Help me, Mr. Fotheringham,' she began; but Arthur, with a tremendous
start, exclaimed, 'Hollo! if that is not a shame! How I wish I had said
what a shocking bad match it is!'

'You think so, do you?' said Percy, advancing, and heartily shaking
Arthur's ready hand.

'Oh! that is your look-out,' said Arthur, shrugging his shoulders.

'But, do you really mean it?' said Violet, looking from one to the
other, as Percy's hand seemed to claim the same welcome from her.

'Indeed, I do,' said Percy, earnestly. 'O, how glad John will be!' was
her congratulation.

'So, I must say nothing about the gray,' proceeded Arthur. 'What is it
some one says about Cupid's steeds? I vow I will call her Psyche, if it
is only to make Theodora s