ng the skies blue, the
sunshine golden, while the rain-drops still glistened on the trees and
the grass. I love the sweet smell of the green leaves and the moist
earth after rain. I was there enjoying it when he came to say good-by to
me--mamma came with him. 'Philippa,' she said, 'Norman is going; he
wants to say good-by to his little wife.' He always calls me his little
wife. I saw him look very grave. She went away and left us together.
'You are growing too tall to be called my little wife, Philippa,' she
said, and I laughed at his gravity. We were standing underneath a great
flowering lilac-tree--the green leaves and the sweet flowers were still
wet with the rain. I remember it so well! I drew one of the tall
fragrant sprays down, and shaking the rain-drops from it, kissed it. I
can smell the rich, moist odor now. I never see a lilac-spray or smell
its sweet moisture after rain but that the whole scene rises before me
again--I see the proud, handsome face that I love so dearly, the clear
skies and the green trees. 'How long shall you be away, Norman?' asked
him. 'Not more than two years,' he replied. 'You will be quite a
brilliant lady of fashion when I return, Philippa; you will have made
conquests innumerable.' 'I shall always be the same to you,' I replied;
but he made no answer. He took the spray of lilac from my hands. 'My
ideas of you will always be associated with lilacs,' he said; and that
is why, Lady Peters, I ordered the vases to be filled with lilacs
to-day. He bent down and kissed my face. 'Good-by, Philippa,' he said,
'may I find you as good and as beautiful as I leave you.' And then he
went away. That is just two years ago; no wonder that I am pleased at
his return."

Lady Peters looked anxiously at her.

"There was no regular engagement between you and Lord Arleigh, was
there, Philippa?"

"What do you call a regular engagement?" said the young heiress. "He
never made love to me, if that is what you mean--he never asked me to be
his wife; but it was understood--always understood."

"By whom?" asked Lady Peters.

"My mother and his. When Lady Arleigh lived, she spent a great deal of
time at Verdun Royal with my mother; they were first cousins, and the
dearest of friends. Hundreds of times I have seen them sitting on the
lawn, while Norman and I played together. Then they were always talking
about the time we should be married. 'Philippa will make a beautiful
Lady Arleigh,' his mother used to say.