Walter's color changed at once. He was a man, and therefore but

a poor dissembler. "Well, nothing very much," he admitted,

awkwardly.

Dolly, drew back like one stung; her heart beat fast. "What have

you heard?" she cried trembling; "Walter, Walter, I love you! You

must keep nothing back. Tell me NOW what it is. I can bear to

hear it."

The young man hesitated. "Only something my step-father heard from

a friend last night," he replied, floundering deeper and deeper.

"Nothing at all about you, darling. Only--well--about your

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family."

Dolly's face was red as fire. A lump rose in her throat; she

started in horror. Then he had found out the Truth. He had probed

the Mystery.

"Something that makes you sorry you promised to marry me?" she

cried aloud in her despair. Heaven faded before her eyes. What

evil trick could mamma have played her?

As she stood there that moment--proud, crimson, breathless--Walter

Brydges would have married her if her father had been a tinker and

her mother a gipsy girl. He drew her toward him tenderly. "No,

darling," he cried, kissing her, for he was a chivalrous young man,

as he understood chivalry; and to him it was indeed a most cruel

blow to learn that his future wife was born out of lawful wedlock.

"I'm proud of you; I love you. I worship the very ground your

sweet feet tread on. Nothing on earth could make me anything but

grateful and thankful for the gift of your love you're gracious

enough to bestow on me."

But Dolly drew back in alarm. Not on such terms as those. She,

too, had her pride; she, too, had her chivalry. "No, no," she

cried, shrinking. "I don't know what it is. I don't know what it

means. But till I've gone home to London and asked about it from

mother,--oh, Walter, we two are no longer engaged. You are free

from your promise."

She said it proudly; she said it bravely. She said it with womanly

grace and dignity. Something of Herminia shone out in her that

moment. No man should ever take her--to the grandest home--unless

he took her at her full worth, pleased and proud to win her.

Walter soothed and coaxed; but Dolores stood firm. Like a rock in

the sea, no assault could move her. As things stood at present,

she cried, they were no longer engaged. After she had seen her

mother and talked it all over, she would write to him once more,

and tell him what she thought of it.




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