the lace; the
other by a Bacchante, whose garland of snow-white grapes was seen dimly,
through the transparent folds it gathered away from the glass.

Through these open windows came glimpses of the flower-garden, green
slopes on the lawn, and farther off the wind swept up perfumes from a
distant orchard, and sifted it almost imperceptibly through the delicate
network of the curtains. Back of this boudoir was a bed-chamber, and
beyond that a dressing-room. Elizabeth could see through the open door a
bed with hangings of blue and white, with all the objects of luxury
which could please the taste of a pampered and fanciful girl.

"Grantley chose these rooms for me long ago, before he went to Europe,"
said Elsie, looking around with quiet complacency. "He would not hear of
my giving them up; besides, I knew you would like something a little
darker and more stately," she said. "Are you pleased with the house,
Bessie?"

"Very, very much. I did not expect any thing so magnificent," she
answered. "It overpowers me."

"I had not seen it for years," said Elsie, "till I came down with Grant
to decide about the new furniture. Now you must be happy here. You ought
to be! Just contrast this place with that old barn of a school; it makes
one shudder to think of it! You must be happy, Bessie, for I hate
discontented people."

"I trust so, dear; I believe so; we shall all be happy."

"Oh, you can't help it," pursued Elsie; "Grant is always a darling! But
you must love and pet me, you know, just as he does."

"You exacting little thing!" said Elizabeth, lightly.

"Yes, but you must," she urged; "you never would have had all this but
for me."

"No," murmured Elizabeth; "I should never have known Grantley but for
you."

"I told him that day, you know, just what I had set my heart on,"
pursued Elsie, shaking her curls about, and chattering in her careless,
graceful way. "I said I loved you like a sister, and I should die if I
was separated from you. That settled it."

Elizabeth had seated herself in a low chair, with her back towards the
window; she looked up quickly as Elsie paused.

"Settled it?" she repeated.

"Yes, exactly!"

Elsie flung herself on the carpet at her sister's feet, and caught one
of her hands, playing with the wedding ring so lately put on that
delicate finger, in her caressing fashion.

"How do you mean?" asked Elizabeth, quietly, though there was a sudden
change in her face which might have struck