"dear madam," cried miss allonby, "i am overjoyed!" then kissed her step-mother vigorously and left the room, casting in passage an arch glance at mr. erwyn.

"o vulgarity!" said lady allonby, recovering her somewhat rumpled dignity, "the sweet child is yet unpolished. but, i suppose, we may regard the matter as settled?"

"yes," said mr. erwyn, "i think, dear lady, we may with safety regard the matter as settled."

"dorothy is of an excitable nature," she observed, and seated herself upon the divan; "and you, dear mr. erwyn, who know women so thoroughly, will overlook the agitation of an artless girl placed in quite unaccustomed circumstances. nay, i myself was affected by my first declaration,"'

"doubtless," said mr. erwyn, and sank beside her. "lord stephen was very moving."

"i can assure you," said she, smiling, "that he was not the first."

"i' gad," said he, "i remember perfectly, in the old days, when you were betrothed to that black-visaged young parson—"

"well, i do not remember anything of the sort," lady allonby stated; and she flushed.

"you wore a blue gown," he said.

"indeed?" said she.

"and—"

"la, if i did," said lady allonby, "i have quite forgotten it, and it is now your manifest duty to do likewise."

"never in all these years," said mr. erwyn, sighing, "have i been able to forget it."

"i was but a girl, and 'twas natural that at first i should be mistaken in my fancies," lady allonby told him, precisely as she had told simon orts: "and at all events, there is nothing less well-bred than a good memory. i would decline to remain in the same room with one were it not that dorothy has deserted you in this strange fashion. whither, pray, has she gone?"

mr. erwyn smiled. "her tender heart," said mr. erwyn, "is affected by the pathetic and moving spectacle of the poor hungry swans, pining for their native land and made a raree-show for visitors in the pantiles; and she has gone to stay them with biscuits and to comfort them with cakes."

"really!" said lady allonby.

"and," mr. erwyn continued, "to defend her from the possible ferocity of the gold-fish, captain audaine had obligingly afforded service as an escort."

"oh," said lady allonby; then added, "in the circumstances she might permissibly have broken the engagement."

"but there is no engagement," said mr. erwyn—"as yet."

"indeed?" said she.

"harkee," said he; "should he make a declaration this afternoon she will refuse him."

"why, but of course!" lady allonby marveled.

"and the eighth time," said he.

"undoubtedly," said she; "but at whatever are you hinting?"

"yet the ninth time—"

"well, what is it, you grinning monster?"

mr. erwyn allowed himself a noiseless chuckle. "after the ninth time," mr.

erwyn declared, "there will be an engagement."

"mr. erwyn!" cried lady allonby, with widened eyes, "i had understood that

dorothy looked favorably upon your suit."

"anastasia!" cried he; and then his finger-tips lightly caressed his brow.

"'tis the first i had heard of it," said mr. erwyn.

"surely—" she began.

"nay, but far more surely," said he, "in consideration of the fact that, not a half-hour since, you deigned to promise me your hand in marriage—"

"o la now!" cried lady allonby; and, recovering herself, smiled courteously. "'tis the first i had heard of it," said she.

they stared at each other in wonderment. then lady allonby burst into laughter.

"d'ye mean—?" said she.

"indeed," said mr. erwyn, "so unintentional was i of aspiring to miss allonby's affections that all my soul was set upon possessing the heart and person of a lady, in my humble opinion, far more desirable."

"i had not dreamed—" she commenced.

"behold," said mr. erwyn, bitterly, "how rightly is my presumption punished. for i, with a fop's audacity, had thought my love for you of sufficient moment to have been long since observed; and, strong in my conceit, had scorned a pleasing declaration made up of faint phrases and whining ballad-endings. i spoke as my heart prompted me; but the heart has proven a poor counsellor, dear lady, and now am i rewarded. for you had not even known of my passion, and that which my presumption had taken for a reciprocal tenderness proves in the ultimate but a kindly aspiration to further my union with another."

"d'ye love me, toad?" said lady allonby, and very softly.

"indeed," said mr. erwyn, "i have loved you all my life, first with a boyish inclination that i scarce knew was love, and, after your marriage with an honorable man had severed us, as i thought, irrevocably, with such lore as an ingenuous person may bear a woman whom both circumstances and the respect in which he holds her have placed beyond his reach,—a love that might not be spoken, but of which i had considered you could never be ignorant."

"mr. erwyn," said she, "at least i have not been ignorant—"

"they had each one of them some feature that reminded me of you. that was the truth of it, a truth so patent that we will not discuss it. instead, dear madam, do you for the moment grant a losing gamester the right to rail at adverse fate! for i shall trouble you no more. since your widowhood i have pursued you with attentions which, i now perceive, must at many times have proven distasteful. but my adoration had blinded me; and i shall trouble you no more. i have been too serious, i did not know that our affair was but a comedy of the eternal duel between man and woman; nor am i sorry, dear opponent, that you have conquered. for how valorously you fought! eh, let it be! for you have triumphed in this duel, o puissant lady, and i yield the victor—a devoted and, it may be, a rather heavy heart; and i shall trouble you no more."

"ah, sir," said lady allonby, "you are aware that once—"

"indeed," said mr. erwyn, "'twas the sand on which i builded. but i am wiser now, and i perceive that the feeling you entertain toward me is but the pallid shadow of a youthful inclination. i shall not presume upon it. oh, i am somewhat proud, dear anastasia; i have freely given you my heart, such as it is; and were you minded to accept it, even at the eleventh hour, through friendship or through pity only, i would refuse. for my love of you has been the one pure and quite unselfish, emotion of my life, and i may not barter it for an affection of lesser magnitude either in kind or in degree. and so, farewell!"

"yet hold, dear sir—" said lady allonby. "lord, but will you never let me have the woman's privilege of talking!"

"nay, but i am, as ever, at your service," said mr. erwyn, and he paused in transit for the door.

"—since, as this betokens—"

"'tis a tasteful handkerchief," said mr. erwyn—"but somewhat moist!"

"and—my eyes?"

"red," said mr. erwyn.

"i have been weeping, toad, with my head on the pin-cushion, and the maid trying to tipsify me with brandy."

"why?" said mr. erwyn.

"i thought you were to marry dorothy."

mr. erwyn resumed his seat. "you objected?" he said.

"i think, old monster," lady allonby replied, "that i would entertain the same objection to seeing any woman thus sacrificed—"

"well?" said mr. erwyn.

"—except—"

"incomparable anastasia!" said mr. erwyn.