deed, if
she had accepted it, it would have been a decisive encouragement to her
ancient suitor, and Colin saw that he regarded her refusal, in its broad
black edges, as a further clenching of the reply to his addresses.

Bessie was to be chaperoned by Mrs. Curtis. As to Rachel, she had
resolved against youthful gaieties for this winter and all others, but
she felt that to show any reluctance to accept the Keith invitation
might be a contradiction to her indifference to the Colonel, and so
construed by her mother, Grace, and Bessie. So all she held out for was,
that as she had no money to spend upon adornments, her blue silk dinner
dress, and her birthday wreath, should and must do duty; and as to her
mother's giving her finery, she was far too impressive and decided for
Mrs. Curtis to venture upon such presumption. She was willing to walk
through her part for an evening, and indeed the county was pretty well
accustomed to Miss Rachel Curtis's ball-room ways, and took them as a
matter of course.

Gowanbrae had two drawing-rooms with folding doors between, quite
practicable for dancing, and the further one ending in a conservatory,
that likewise extended along the end of the entrance hall and
dining-room. The small library, where Colonel Keith usually sat, became
the cloak-room, and contained, when Mrs. Curtis and her daughters
arrived, so large a number of bright cashmere cloaklets, scarlet, white,
and blue, that they began to sigh prospectively at the crowd which,
Mrs. Curtis would have encountered with such joyful valour save for that
confidence on the way home from the book club.

They were little prepared for the resources of a practised
staff-officer. Never had a ball even to them looked so well arranged,
or in such thorough style, as a little dexterous arrangement of flowers,
lights, and sofas, and rendered those two rooms. The two hosts worked
extremely well. Lord Keith had shaken off much of his careless stoop
and air of age, and there was something in his old-world polish and
his Scotch accent that gave a sort of romance to the manner of his
reception. His brother, with his fine brow, and thoughtful eyes,
certainly appeared to Rachel rather thrown away as master of the
ceremonies, but whatever he did, he always did in the quietest and best
way, and receptions had been a part of his vocation, so that he infused
a wonderful sense of ease, and supplied a certain oil of good breeding
that made everything move su