nt. "I should like to stay, I confess. I am very, very
fond of England."

"Of course--as you should be of your native place." He was firing
nearer the target.

"England is not my native place," said Harriet, calmly. "I was born at
Gibraltar."

"At Gibraltar! You surprise me. Of course your mother was not a
native of Gibraltar?"

"Of course not. My mother was an American--born and bred and married
in New York."

"I suppose you scarcely remember her?"

"Scarcely," the young lady repeated, dryly; "since I never saw her."

"Indeed! She died then--"

"At my birth--yes. And now, Sir Everard"--the bright, clear eyes
flashed suddenly full upon him--"is the catechism almost at an end?"

He absolutely recoiled. If ever guilt was written on a human face, it
was readily written on his.

"Ah!" Miss Hunsden said, scornfully, "you thought I couldn't find you
out--you thought I couldn't see your drift. Have a better opinion of
my powers of penetration next time, Sir Everard. My poor father,
impoverished in purse, broken in health, sensitive in spirit, chooses
to hide his wounds--chooses not to wear his heart on his sleeve for the
Devonshire daws to peck at--chooses never to speak of his lost
wife--and, lo! all the gossips of the country are agape for the news.
She was an actress, was she not, Sir Everard? And when I ride across
the country, at the heels of the hounds, it is only the spangles, and
glitter, and theater glare breaking out again. I could despise it in
others, but I did think better things of the son of my father's oldest
friend! Good-morning, Sir Everard."

She turned proudly away.

"Stay, Harriet--Miss Hunsden! Stop--for pity's sake, stop and hear me!
I have been presuming--impertinent. I have deserved your rebuke."

"You have," she said, haughtily.

"But I asked those questions because the nameless insinuations I heard
drove me mad--because I love you, I worship you, with all my heart and
soul."

Like an impetuous torrent the words burst out. He actually flung
himself on his knees before her.

"My beautiful, queenly, glorious Harriet! I love you as man never
loved woman before!"

Miss Hunsden stood aghast, staring, absolutely confounded. For one
instant she stood thus; then all was forgotten in her sense of the
ludicrous. She leaned against a tree, and set up a shout of laughter
long and clear.

"Oh, good gracious!" cried Miss Hunsden, as soon as she was able to
speak; "who