s such. He has asked me for our
Maud."

"What for?" was the mother's first exceedingly simple question--and
then she guessed its answer. "Impossible! Ridiculous--absolutely
ridiculous! She is only a child."

"Nevertheless, Lord Ravenel wishes to marry our little Maud!"

"Lord Ravenel wishes to marry our Maud!"

Mrs. Halifax repeated this to herself more than once before she was
able to entertain it as a reality. When she did, the first impression
it made upon her mind was altogether pain.

"Oh, John! I hoped we had done with these sort of things; I thought we
should have been left in peace with the rest of our children."

John smiled again; for, indeed, there was a comical side to her view of
the subject; but its serious phase soon returned; doubly so, when,
looking up, they both saw Lord Ravenel standing before them. Firm his
attitude was, firmer than usual; and it was with something of his
father's stately air, mingled with a more chivalric and sincerer grace,
that he stooped forward and kissed the hand of Maud's mother.

"Mr. Halifax has told you all, I believe?"

"He has."

"May I then, with entire trust in you both, await my answer?"

He waited it, patiently enough, with little apparent doubt as to what
it would be. Besides, it was only the prior question of parental
consent, not the vital point of Maud's preference. And, with all his
natural humility, Lord Ravenel might be forgiven if, brought up in the
world, he was aware of his position therein--nor quite unconscious that
it was not merely William Ravenel, but the only son and heir of the
Earl of Luxmore, who came a-wooing.

Not till after a long pause, and even a whispered word or two between
the husband and wife, who knew each other's minds so well that no more
consultation was needed--did the suitor again, with a more formal air,
ask for an answer.

"It is difficult to give. I find that my wife, like myself, had no
idea of your feelings. The extreme suddenness--"

"Pardon me; my intention has not been sudden. It is the growth of many
months--years, I might almost say."

"We are the more grieved."

"Grieved?"

Lord Ravenel's extreme surprise startled him from the mere suitor into
the lover; he glanced from one to the other in undisguised alarm. John
hesitated: the mother said something about the "great difference
between them."

"In age, do you mean? I am aware of that," he answered, with some
sadness. "But twenty years i