d, though for a few moments she had no words to
utter. After advancing a few steps, she took her hand out of her muff,
laid it in that of Hardinge, and without raising her eyes, murmured:

"I will go, Roddy, for his sake and yours."

This preliminary being satisfactorily arranged, Hardinge accompanied her
to the door of her home, and after advising her to spend the day in
resting from her emotions and fatigue, promised to call for her early in
the evening.

He did so. To his surprise he found her cheerful and without the least
sign of weariness or reluctance in her manner. She was arrayed in a rich
and most tasteful costume, which gave a splendid relief to her quiet,
simple beauty. To his further surprise he found M. Belmont in an
agreeable mood, though still ailing. He was pleased to say that he quite
approved of his daughter attending the ball, and especially in the
company of Roderick Hardinge.

"This is another instalment of the reparation which I owe you, Roddy,"
he said, with a smile. "I confide Pauline to you to-night, and I do not
know that I would do the same for any other young fellow in Quebec."

Of course no more was needed to put Hardinge in the most exuberant good
spirits, and when, he drove off with Pauline, he hardly knew what he was
doing.

The ball was opened when they reached the Castle. The Governor who had
led in the first dance, or dance of honour, took part in a third and
fourth, mingling freely with all the guests, apparently disposed to
secure as many friends for himself and cause as possible. During this
interval, Pauline and Roderick glided into the hall almost unnoticed,
but it was not long before they were called upon to take part in the
dance, and at once they attracted general attention. Nor was there cause
to wonder at this. The young Scotchman looked particularly handsome in
his dazzling scarlet tunic, while Pauline, in her rich robes of crimson
satin and sprigs of snowy jasmine twined in her simple headdress,
revealed a warm, ripe, glowing beauty, which was a surprise even to her
most intimate friends.

After a time, the Governor took up his position on the dais, at the
extremity of the room, directly in front of the Chair of State and under
the violet fringes of the canopy. The Royal Arms flashed triumphantly
behind him, while on the panels of the walls, to the right and left, his
own cipher was visible. Those of the guests who had not yet been
presented to his Excellency, seiz