OVERHEARS SOMETHING.

The cruel word her heart so tender thrilled,
That sudden cold did run through every vein;
And stoney horror all her senses filled
With dying fit, that down she fell for pain.

SPENSER.

And, meanwhile, where was the innocent cause of this disturbance?

Dorothy had been half expecting some such course of action on the
part of De la Zouch for some time past, and had carefully prepared
a stinging answer which should once and for ever decide the question
between them. Though she was petted and admired on almost every hand,
yet she had sense enough to value such conduct at its proper worth;
and whilst with the coquetry of a queen of hearts she accepted all the
homage that love-sick cavaliers brought to her, she looked below the
surface, and had a private opinion of her own about all those with
whom she was brought into contact.

Her opinion of Sir Henry de la Zouch was distinctly unfavourable to
that knight; for, with the instinct of a woman, she had divined from
the very beginning that his motives were more mercenary than genuine,
and in spite of all his protestations of love towards her, he had
failed to convince her that he loved her for herself alone. A little
watching on her part had quickly convinced her that the dislike she
felt for him was not without sufficient reason, and as the evidence
against him accumulated, she congratulated herself that she had
escaped the clutches of a villain of so wily a disposition.

Long before the appearance of John Manners she had determinedly
refused all the advances of her would-be lover, and his every attempt
had been met by her with chilling sarcasm; or, were she in a lighter
mood, she had retreated into safer ground under cover of a burst of
merriment. Had De la Zouch been possessed of ordinary perceptions he
would have noticed that his conduct was alienating Dorothy from him
more and more; but, like many others, he was so eager to gain his ends
that he was partially blind as to the means employed.

The manner in which Sir Henry had just preferred his suit had taken
her so completely by surprise that she had entirely forgotten what she
meant to say; but the indignation she felt at his conduct in
detaining her against her will would have deprived her of the power
of expressing the prettily turned speech so long prepared, even if she
had remembered it. She fled into the house, and without casting a look
behind to see if she were being