?"

"Must I pay you compliments on your agreeability, Mr. Beecher?"

"There it is again," broke he in, pettishly. "It was only yesterday
you consented to call me Annesley, and you have gone back from it
already,--forgotten it all!"

"No, I forget very seldom--unfortunately." This last word was uttered to
herself and for herself.

"You will call me Annesley, then?" asked he, eagerly.

"Yes, if you wish it,--Annesley." There was a pause before she spoke the
last word; and when she did utter it, her accent faltered slightly, and
a faint blush tinged her cheek.

As for Beecher, his heart swelled high and proudly; he felt at that
moment a strange warm glow within him that counterfeited courage; for
an instant he thought he would have liked something perilous to
confront,--something in encountering which he might stand forth before
Lizzy as a Paladin. Was it that some mysterious voice within him
whispered, "She loves you; her heart is yours"? and, oh, if so, what
a glorious sentiment must there be in that passion, if love can move a
nature like this, and mould it to one great or generous ambition!

"Lizzy, I want to talk to you seriously," said he, drawing her arm
within his own. "I have long wanted to tell you something; and if you
can hear it without displeasure, I swear to you I 'd not change with
Lackington to-morrow! Not that it's such good fun being a younger
son,--few men know that better than myself; still, I repeat, that if you
only say 'yes' to me, I pledge you my oath I 'd rather hear it than be
sure I was to win the Oaks,--ay, by Heaven! Oaks and Derby, too! You
know now what I mean, dearest Lizzy, and do not, I beseech you, keep me
longer in suspense."

She made no answer; her cheek became very pale, and a convulsive shudder
passed over her; but she was calm and unmoved the next instant.

"If you love another, Lizzy," said he, and his lips trembled violently,
"say so frankly. It's only like all my other luck in life, though
nothing was ever as heavy as this."

There was an honesty, a sincerity in the tone, of these words that
seemed to touch her; for she stole a side look at his face, and the
expression of her glance was of kindly pity.

"Is it true, then, that you _do_ love another, Lizzy?" repeated he, with
even deeper emotion.

"No!" said she, with a slow utterance.

"Will you not tell me, dearest Lizzy, if--if--I am to have any hope? I
know well enough that you need n't take a poor beggar of a