seat, and flinging himself before her, demand then and there an
explanation of her engagement.

"But beyond the impatience of those short burning glances, he controlled
himself well, and it was Jacqueline who moved at last.

"I saw the purpose growing in her eyes long before she stirred. The face
which had been a mystery to me from her cradle, was in the presence of
this man, like an open page which all might read. Its letters were
flame, but that did not make them any less clear. I felt her swaying
towards him, before an eyelash trembled or a quiver shook her tall form.
He may have understood her purpose also, for his eye wandered towards
the open piano. She rose like a queen.

"'Mr. Roger Holt is a singer,' said she in passing her father, 'I am
going to ask him to give us one of the old ballads you profess to like
so much.'

"The conversation at once ceased. The Colonel who made no secret of his
fondness for music, turned at once towards the stranger, with an
expression of great courtesy. Instantly that gentleman rose, and meeting
the request of his hostess with a profound bow, proceeded at once to the
piano. 'He will not leave it till he has spoken to her,' thought I. Nor
did he, for that very moment as they stood turning her music over, I
perceived his lips move in a hurried question, to which she as briefly
responded, whereupon he caught up a sheet of music from the pile, and
flinging back his head with a victorious smile, began to sing.

"Had I known what lay behind his words, I would have braved everything
rather than have allowed him to utter a note in that room which had once
rung with the carols of Jacqueline's mother. But what could I guess of
the possible evil underlying the natural ebullition of unrestrained
passion that from some cause of pride or pique, had met with a strange
inexplicable check. So I sat still, shuddering perhaps, but quiet in my
corner; while the haunting tones of his strange and thrilling voice,
rose and fell in the most uncanny of Scottish love songs. Nor did I do
more than wonder with all my agitated soul, when at the conclusion
Jacqueline came back, and pausing beside the man to whom she had given
her troth, looked down in his beaming face and smiled with that overflow
of delight, which she dared not bestow upon his brother.

"Another little incident of that hour remains engraven upon my memory.
She had been showing to the gentlemen a rare plant that stood in the
front parlor