r two books which she had selected to read. She lay,
with her dark, queenly head on the soft cushion of crimson velvet in an
attitude that would have charmed a painter. But the duchess was not
wasting the light of her dark eyes over a book. She had closed them, as
a flower closes its leaves in the heat of the sun. As she lay there,
beautiful, languid, graceful, the picture she formed was a marvelous
rich study of color. So thought the duke, who, unheard by her, had
entered the room.

Everything had prospered with his grace. He had always been extremely
wealthy, but his wealth had been increased in a sudden and unexpected
fashion. On one of his estates in the north a vein of coal had been
discovered, which was one of the richest in England. The proceeds of it
added wonderfully to his income, and promised to add still more. No
luxury was wanting; the duchess had all that her heart, even in its
wildest caprices, could desire. The duke loved her with as keen and
passionate a love as ever. He had refused to go out this morning,
because she had not gone; and now he stood watching her with something
like adoration in his face--the beautiful woman, in her flowing
draperies of amber and white. He went up to her and touched her brow
lightly with his lips.

"Are you asleep, my darling?" he asked.

"No," she replied, opening her eyes.

"I have something to read to you--something wonderful."

She roused herself.

"Your geese are generally swans, Vere. What is the wonder?"

"Listen, Philippa;" and, as the duke scanned the newspaper in his hands,
he sang the first few lines of his favorite song:

"'Queen Philippa sat in her bower alone.'

"Ah, here it is!" he broke off. "I am sure you will say that this is
wonderful. It explains all that I could not understand--and, for
Arleigh's sake, I am glad, though what you will say to it, I cannot
think."

And, sitting down by her side, he read to her the newspaper account of
the Arleigh romance.

He read it without interruption, and the queenly woman listening to him
knew that her revenge had failed, and that, instead of punishing the man
who had slighted her love, she had given him one of the sweetest,
noblest and wealthiest girls in England. She knew that her vengeance had
failed--that she had simply crowned Lord Arleigh's life with the love of
a devoted wife.

When the duke looked up from his paper to see what was the effect of his
news, he saw that the duchess had quietl