nces in moderation; his manner, though he was nearly
twenty-six, was still rather boyishly blunt.

What there was in him that had found favour in Ella Hylton's fastidious
eyes the narrator is not rash enough to attempt to particularise. But it
may be suggested that the most unlikely people may possess their fairy
rose and ring which render them irresistible to at least one heart, if
they only have faith to believe in and luck to perceive their power.

So, early in the year, George had plucked up courage to propose to Miss
Hylton, after meeting and secretly adoring her for some months past, and
she, to the general astonishment, had accepted him.

He had a private income--not a large one--of his own, and had saved out
of it. She was entitled under her grandmother's will to a sum which made
her an heiress in a modest way, and thus there was no reason why the
engagement should be a long one, and, though no date had been definitely
fixed for the marriage, it was understood that it should take place at
some time before the end of the summer.

Soon after the engagement, however, an invalid aunt with whom Ella had
always been a great favourite was ordered to the south of France, and
implored her to go with her; which Ella, who had a real affection for
her relative, as well as a strong sense of duty, had consented to do.

This was a misfortune in one of two ways: it either curtailed that most
necessary and most delightful period during which _fiances_ discover one
another's idiosyncrasies and weaknesses, or it made it necessary to
postpone the marriage.

George naturally preferred the former, as the more endurable evil; but
Ella's letters from abroad began to hint more and more plainly at delay.
Her aunt might remain on the Continent all the summer, and she could not
possibly leave her; there was so much to be done after her return that
could not be done in a hurry; they had not even begun to furnish the
pretty little house on Campden Hill that was to be their new home--it
would be better to wait till November, or even later.

The mere idea was alarming to George, and he remonstrated as far as he
dared; but Ella remained firm, and he grew desperate.

He might have spared himself the trouble. About the middle of June
Ella's aunt--who, of course, had had to leave the Riviera--grew tired of
travelling, and Ella, to George's intense satisfaction, returned to her
mother's house in Linden Gardens, Notting Hill.

And now, when