I need
not heat ourselves in a perfectly useless discussion. Miss Selby has a
right to expect this ring. You are treating her very shabbily, Erle.
Come to me to-morrow and tell me you have placed it on her finger."

"And if I refuse?" Erle's pale lips could hardly frame the question.

Mr. Huntingdon smiled ironically.

"I do not think you will refuse, Erle. You are too much a gentleman to
treat a woman badly. All the world is saying you and Miss Selby are
engaged. You can hardly allow a girl to be talked about."

"But if I prefer another?" stammered Erle.

"Tut, tut, boy, you will soon get over your fancy," returned Mr.
Huntingdon, impatiently. "Most young men have half a dozen flirtations
before they settle down. I suppose I need not tell you that I strictly
prohibit any visits to Mrs. Trafford for the future. If you infringe
this rule it will be at your own risk;" and then he continued more
earnestly--"Erle, I am determined that you shall not disappoint me.
You are my adopted son, and I trust my future heir. I have a right to
count on your obedience. Come to me to-morrow, and tell me you and
Miss Selby are engaged, and all will be well between us." Then,
pressing his shoulder gently, and in a voice no one had heard from him
since his daughter's loss--"I am an old man, and my life has not been
a happy one. Do not let me feel that you have disappointed me too."

CHAPTER XXVIII.

"I WANT HIM SO."

No shade has come between
Thee and the sun;
Like some long childish dream
Thy life has run;
But now the stream has reached
A dark deep sea,
And sorrow, dim and crowned,
Is waiting thee.

ADELAIDE ANNE PROCTER.

Fluff woke up before they reached their destination, very much
refreshed by her brief nap. When the cab stopped before the side door
of Mrs. Watkins's, and she caught sight of Fern standing on the
threshold, as though she had been waiting there some time, she gave a
little cry, and literally jumped into her sister's arms.

"Oh, Fluff, Fluff! what does this mean?" exclaimed poor Fern, who had
passed a most miserable afternoon, picturing Fluff being borne in a
policeman's arms to the nearest hospital; but Fluff silenced her by an
embrace so vehement that it nearly produced strangulation.

"It is all right, Fern, so don't scold me. Grandpapa was not so very
angry--at least, only just at first; but he sent me in the
beautifulest supper, s