d me that she had sent for the duke "concerning
some matters," and I lay on the leather couch in the hall, the very
same bit of furniture, by the way, which we called Pitcairn's sofa,
which made a bitter time for us all later, and fell asleep.

I was recalled to consciousness by singing in the grounds, and although
the whole town knew the song, it was the first time I had ever heard
it--"The Duke's Tune," it was called far and wide:

[Illustration (music)]

at the last note of which, Borthwicke himself, jaunty, bareheaded, and
smiling, stood before Nancy in the window-way.

"How is your Royal Highness to-night?" he cried gaily.

"My Royal Highness," she replied, with a little laugh, "is not in a
happy frame of mind. Things have gone very wrong with me to-day."

"Indeed?" returned his grace. "Things may be changed by human endeavor.
I myself," very lightly, "have been able to change a few. It is perhaps
superfluous for me to mention that my time and abilities are at your
service always."

"If that be true, my troubles have disappeared entirely," Nancy
returned. "They were all of your breeding. I have been thinking of your
grace the day long."

"I am honored," he said.

"Perhaps you should know my thoughts before you say that. They were not
complimentary in the extreme," she said, looking directly at him with
very honest eyes.

"You might," and there was the caressing tone in his voice of which I
have already spoken, "tell me wherein I displease you. It would be the
effort of my life to change."

He came directly toward her at this, o'er close, it seemed to me, and
stood looking down into her eyes, which were fixed upon his.

"You mean it?" she asked.

"By the love I bear you, the best thing my life has ever known--I mean
it to the last letter. In fact, I spoke of it this afternoon to your
father, Lord Stair. You've made a change in me. I'm not promising too
much, but I am intending a reform of myself. Let me put it to you, not
too earnestly, lest nothing come of it, but so you can get the drift of
my thoughts.

"I have come to believe that your creed of love and helpfulness to
every one is a stronger one than mine. It is not a proven thing to me
yet, but I think one gets more in a subtler way than I can name from
living by it. My head has got me so far in the working out of it. My
heart----"

"Your heart will help you the most," said Nancy. "And it is there I am
hoping for help from you." And here, pe