ain Dale is going to be married to one Miss Dunstable."

"Oh! And as to one Miss Lily Dale,--is she to be married to anybody?"

"Not that I have heard of," said Johnny.

"She is not going to become the wife of one Mr. John Eames?"

He did not wish to talk to Miss Demolines about Lily Dale. He did not
choose to disown the imputation, or to acknowledge its truth.

"Silence gives consent," she said. "If it be so, I congratulate you.
I have no doubt she is a most charming young woman. It is about seven
years, I believe, since that little affair with Mr. Crosbie, and
therefore that, I suppose, may be considered as forgotten."

"It is only three years," said Johnny, angrily. "Besides, I don't
know what that has to do with it."

"You need not be ashamed," said Madalina. "I have heard how well you
behaved on that occasion. You were quite the preux chevalier; and
if any gentleman ever deserved well of a lady you deserved well of
her. I wonder how Mr. Crosbie felt when he met you the other day at
Maria's. I had not heard anything about it then, or I should have
been much more interested in watching your meeting."

"I really can't say how he felt."

"I daresay not; but I saw him shake hands with you. And so Lily Dale
has come to town."

"Yes,--Miss Dale is here with her uncle."

"And you are going away to-morrow?"

"Yes,--and I am going away to-morrow."

After that there was a pause in the conversation. Eames was sick of
it, and was very anxious to change the conversation. Miss Demolines
was sitting in the shadow, away from the light, with her face half
hidden by her hands. At last she jumped up, and came round and stood
opposite to him. "I charge you to tell me truly, John Eames," she
said, "whether Miss Lilian Dale is engaged to you as your future
wife?" He looked up into her face, but made no immediate answer. Then
she repeated her demand. "I ask you whether you are engaged to marry
Miss Lilian Dale, and I expect a reply."

"What makes you ask me such a question as that?"

"What makes me ask you? Do you deny my right to feel so much interest
in you as to desire to know whether you are about to married? Of
course you can decline to tell me if you choose."

"And if I were to decline?"

"I should know then that it was true, and I should think that you
were a coward."

"I don't see any cowardice in the matter. One does not talk about
that kind of thing to everybody."

"Upon my word, Mr. Eames, you are compli