ered.
Something must have grieved her.

"Tell me," he said, addressing the indignant girl, "was anything the
matter? Did my--did Miss Lina look ill?"

"Just as blooming as a rose, de fust time I see her, and as white as
this pillar when she went out, after I'd expressed myself regarding the
ridickelousness of her stuck up ways."

"But where is she now?"

"Don't know. Shouldn't wonder if she's wid de madam--like as not."

Ralph went to his mother's boudoir, and after knocking in vain, softly
opened the door. Fair-Star came towards him with his serious eyes and
velvet tread, looking back toward the inner room, where Ralph saw his
mother through the lace curtains, asleep and alone. He saw also the
shrubs in motion at the window, and fancied that a rustling sound came
from the balcony.

"Hist, Lina--sweet Lina, it is I!"

Before he reached the balcony, all was still there, but certainly the
sound of a closing door had reached him, and the plants at one end of
the balcony were vibrating yet.

"Ah, she is teasing me," thought the boy, and his heart rose with the
playful thought. "We'll see if Lady Lina escapes in this way."

He opened a door leading from the balcony, and entered a room that had
once been occupied by General Harrington's first wife. It was a small
chamber, rich in old-fashioned decorations, and gloomy with disuse. The
shutters were all closed, and curtains of heavy silk darkened the
windows entirely. Still Ralph could see a high-post bedstead and the
outlines of other objects equally ponderous. Beyond this, he saw a
female figure, evidently attempting to hide itself behind the bed
drapery.

Ralph sprang forward with his hands extended.

"Ah, ha, my lady-bird, with all this fluttering I have found you!"

There was a quick rush behind the drapery, which shook and swayed, till
the dust fell from it in showers. Again Ralph laughed, "Ah, lapwing,
struggle away, I have you safe."

He seized an armful of the damask drapery as he spoke, and felt a slight
form struggling and trembling in his embrace. Instinctively his arms
relaxed their hold, and with something akin to terror, he whispered:--

"Why, Lina, darling, what is this? I thought that we loved each other.
You did not tremble so, when I held you in my arms yesterday!"

A smothered cry, as of acute pain, broke from beneath the drapery, and
then, while Ralph stood lost in surprise, the curtains fell rustling
together, and the faint sound of a do