is was naturally a disappointment to his lordship.
One after the other these children died, which grieved her ladyship
sorely, for she was a very devoted mother. His lordship had never
noticed them much, being angry at not having an heir, and this made
my lady all the fonder of them. She had little constitution herself,
and the children were sickly. At last, however, an heir was born, but
her ladyship died at his birth. It seemed a pity, my lady, did it
not? For his lordship was greatly pleased with the heir, and, of
course, my lady would have been much happier after that."

Bettina did not answer. The evident reasonableness of the father's
position, in the eyes of this good and gentle woman, made it
impossible for her to speak without dissent to such an atrocity as
Lord Hurdly's attitude seemed to her. So she moved away, and the
woman took the hint and said no more.

A little distance off, at the end of the long room, she had caught
sight of an object that made her heart beat suddenly. She did no more
than glance at it, and then returned to the contemplation of the
picture before which she was standing. But she had recognized Horace
Spotswood in the tall stripling of perhaps fifteen who stood in
riding-clothes at the side of a pawing gray horse.

By the time she had made her way to it, in its regular succession,
she had quite recovered her calmness and had made up her mind as to
her course.

"And who is this handsome boy?" she said, with perfect
self-possession, as they stood before the large canvas.

[Illustration: "'AND WHO IS THIS HANDSOME BOY?'"]

"That is Mr. Horace, my lady," said the woman, a sudden tone of
emotion mingling with the deference in her voice as her eyes dwelt
on the picture fondly.

And who could wonder at this? Surely a more winsome lad had never
been seen. He was even then tall, and in his riding coat and breeches
looked strangely slender, in contrast to the broad-shouldered
physique which she had lately known so well. But the eyes were just
the same--direct, frank, eager eyes, which looked straight at you and
seemed to make a demand upon you to be as open and frank in return.

Had Bettina searched the world, she could not, as she knew, have
found a more significant contrast than the comparison of the honest
eyes with the guarded, cold, inscrutable ones into which it was now
her lot to look so often.

"Have you known him a long time?" she asked, pleasantly, as the woman
remained silen