f
ancestors--lords, dukes, and earls reaching down to the first Earl
Upperton created by William of Normandy, for valor on the field of
Hastings. On the maternal side were portraits of beautiful ladies who
had been maids of honor and train-bearers at the coronations of
Margaret and Elizabeth. The brain of Ruth could not keep track of all
the branches of the ancestral tree; she could only conclude it was
stalwart and strong.

Lord Upperton was heartily welcomed by Mrs. Newville, who esteemed it
one of heaven's blessings to be thus honored. On an evening, after a
visit from his lordship, Mrs. Newville, with radiant face, drew Ruth
to her bosom. "My dear," she said, "I have joyful information for you.
Lord Upperton has done us the distinguished honor to say to your
father and me that he has become so much interested in our daughter
that he presumes to ask the privilege of paying his addresses to her.
It is not, Ruth, altogether a surprise to me, for I have seen his
growing fondness for you."

"Fondness for me, mother?"

"Yes, dear; he has not been able to keep his eyes off you of late. I
have noticed that if you had occasion to leave the room, he fidgeted
till you returned. We have given our consent, and he will call
to-morrow evening to make a formal proposal to you."

"But I do not desire he should make a proposal to me, mother!"

"Don't want him to make an offer of marriage, child! Why, Ruth, what
are you thinking of? Not wish to receive the attentions of a noble
lord! I am astonished. Do you forget that he can trace his lineage
down to the time of William the Conqueror, and I don't know how much
farther? You surprise me!"

"I doubt not Lord Upperton may have a noble ancestry, but I don't see
how that concerns me. I am not going to marry his ancestors, am I?"

"Why, daughter, he has a crest,--an escutcheon of azure, sable, and
sanguine, a lion rampant, a unicorn passant, and an eagle volent."

"What would a crest do for me?"

The question puzzled Mrs. Newville. "I really do not know, daughter,
just what it would do, but it would be painted on your coach; it would
be embroidered on the banners hanging in Lord Upperton's baronial
hall. Just think of it! The lion, the emblem of strength, the unicorn
of energy, the eagle of swiftness and far-sightedness,--it would
represent all those qualities!"

"But what if one has not the qualities?"

"I am not so sure, daughter, but that you have those very
characteristic