I told him that he must not fall in love with her. I
told him of her birth, antecedents, misfortunes--everything connected
with her. His own mother or sister could not have warned him more
sensibly."

"And what was the result?" asked Lady Peters, gravely.

"Just what one might have expected from a man," laughed the duchess.
"Warn them against any particular thing, and it immediately possesses a
deep attraction for them. The result was that he said she was his ideal,
fairly, fully, and perfectly realized. I, of course, could say no more."

"But," cried Lady Peters, aghast, "you do not think it probable that he
will marry her?"

"I cannot tell. He is a man of honor. He would not make love to her
without intending to marry her."

"But there is not a better family in England than the Arleighs of
Beechgrove, Philippa. It would be terrible for him--such a
_mesalliance;_ surely he will never dream of it."

"She is beautiful, graceful, gifted, and good," was the rejoinder. "But
it is useless for us to argue about the matter. He has said nothing
about marrying her; he has only called her his ideal."

"I cannot understand it," said poor Lady Peters. "It seems strange to
me."

She would have thought it stranger still if she had followed them and
heard what Lord Arleigh was saying.

He had followed Madaline to the southern wall, whereon the luscious
peaches and apricots grew. He found her, as the duchess had intimated,
busily engaged in choosing the ripest and best. He thought he had never
seen a fairer picture than this golden-haired girl standing by the green
leaves and rich fruit. He thought of Tennyson's "Gardener's daughter."

"One arm aloft----
Gowned in pure white that fitted to the shape--
Holding the bush, to fix it back, she stood.
The full day dwelt on her brows and sunned
Her violet eyes, and all her Hebe bloom,
And doubled his own warmth against her lips,
And on the beauteous wave of such a breast
As never pencil drew. Half light, half shade,
She stood, a sight to make an old man young."

He repeated the lines as he stood watching her, and then he went nearer
and called:

"Madaline!"

Could he doubt that she loved him? Her fair face flushed deepest
crimson; but, instead of turning to him, she moved half coyly, half
shyly away.

"How quick you are," he said, "to seize every opportunity of evading
me! Do you think you can escape me, Madal